


Just In Time

by accelgors



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: ???? to Friends to Lovers, Angst with a Happy Ending, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, M/M, Slow Burn, Sort Of, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel, dark at times, you'll get it if you read it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2020-07-29 15:56:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 49,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20084848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/accelgors/pseuds/accelgors
Summary: True love can be the most destructive force of all. When the love between Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison causes a terrible tragedy, it's up to Tracer to go back and prevent disaster.





	1. Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> A couple important notes here:
> 
> \- There is NOT major character death in this story. Characters die, but they come back (you'll see why).  
\- As you can tell from the graphic violence tag, this fic gets twisted and dark at times.

Jack couldn’t believe it. It still felt surreal, like it was way too good to be true, and this was just a dream.

He had seen Gabriel again.

_ Eighteen hours earlier _

Another night of insomnia. Jack looked at the clock on his holo pad. 5:36AM. He had been trying to sleep since 11. He groaned.

There was just too much on his mind to sleep. Six months had passed since Gabriel had shot him in Cairo, but he still couldn’t stop thinking about it. There was no escape. He would endlessly relive the pain of the bullet hitting him, the strange infection of the wound (which seemed to have mostly healed by now, finally), and the cold red eyes of his friend’s mask that showed no remorse. He still couldn’t decide how he should feel about it. The rational side of his brain told him that he should give up, certainly not have hope for someone who nearly killed him -- but his emotional side, the one that always won out, told him that Gabriel was still in there somewhere. He spent nights agonizing over what to do next, and never came to a solid conclusion.

With the way his thoughts were rushing, he didn’t even notice smoke slip through his window, until he looked up and saw mist surrounding him. “What the hell?!” He said. After the initial surprise, though, he realized that it was that familiar black smoke. Gabriel. “What are you doing here?” _ Wow, way to be sensitive. Dumbass. _

“Wanted to tell you something,” Gabriel said, not meeting his eye. “How’s the injury?”

“Getting better.” Jack was still bewildered by this entire situation. “Still kinda hurts, and I walk a little funny, but I’ve been through worse.”

Gabriel said nothing for a little while, the eyeholes of the mask just staring off into the distance. Jack wondered if hiding his expression was one of the points of the mask, although he knew Gabriel well enough that he could still usually tell how he felt. Judging by the slight twitch in his leg and the way he held his arms behind his back, he seemed nervous right now.

Finally, just before Jack was going to ask Gabriel if he had just come here to stare awkwardly, he spoke. “You said it ‘kinda’ hurts?” Gabriel wraithed and re-formed behind him, then put pressure on Jack’s lower back, nearly causing him to cry out. “Figured.”

“Couldn’t you have figured out some other way to prove your point?” Jack grumbled. To his surprise, Gabriel...laughed? God, when was the last time he heard him laugh? “You still didn't tell me why you're here, though.” Could this be a trap? Maybe, but this was his first chance to even speak to Gabriel outside of a fight in years. He wasn't going to let the chance go to waste. When Gabriel hesitated, Jack insisted, “Gabe, be honest with me.”

After a moment, Gabriel sighed. “Fine. I saw what you did tonight.” What he did? What had he done? He spent most of the day inside, drinking whiskey and doing some cryi- Oh. “When I saw you throwing up and crying” -- even though it was true, Jack didn’t appreciate him saying it aloud -- “I made a decision. I'm gonna leave you alone for now. Let's just stay away from each other." Seemingly satisfied with that bizarre statement, Gabriel started to leave.

“Wait,” Jack said. He reached his hand out. “Don't want you to leave."

Gabriel froze for a moment. "I have to."

But this presented Jack with an opportunity. Right now, Gabriel seemed...vulnerable. And more importantly, he didn't seem angry. There was no shouting, or arguing, and especially no violence. This might be the only chance he had for anything amicable. "Before you go. Can we just...put all this bullshit behind us? Start over?"

Gabriel said nothing for a few moments, his mask not moving. "I'll think about it." Before Jack could ask what the hell that even meant, Gabriel disappeared. Did he always have to be so dramatic?

Still, his mind felt somewhat at ease. At least Gabriel wasn't shooting him this time.

It was a start.

\--

Everything that had happened in the past 18 hours had just left Jack anticipating the future. Did this mean he and Gabriel might become friends again? God, he hoped so. Did it mean he was still on the enemy side? Would they be able to fight side-by-side again someday? Or was this all an elaborate trap that he had fallen for like a desperate child? With all of these questions in mind, he paced around the living room in his safe house.

He needed something to calm his racing mind before he went insane. Ana had left for a meeting with Fareeha in Cairo and would be gone for a few days, so he didn’t even have anyone to talk to. Luckily, a distraction came to him - and possibly a big one. A huge gathering of Talon soldiers was reported in a small city in Spain, not too far away from the Gibraltar base. This could mean danger for the base. 

He told himself that he was going to protect the base and possibly get some new information, but he knew internally that he was just wondering if Gabriel had gone there.

With his mind made up, he picked up his duffle bag and put on his _ 76 _jacket. Luckily, the incident was close enough that he probably wouldn’t need to move to a different safe house; thank God, because he left so much good food here. He had just wanted to eat his damn burgers. 

He knew he should wait for Ana to come back before charging in, guns blazing. But this was an opportunity he had never gotten before. If Gabriel left the area just as they finally had even a chance to become friends again, Jack would be crushed. There was no choice. He had to go now. He didn’t even want to waste time waiting for daybreak.

Within an hour, he was in the city. The streets were nearly barren at this time of night, and the whole vibe made his hair stand up on end. Using his visor to enhance his vision in the area, he had found a large crowd of Talon agents gathered in a small section of the city. Bingo. Probably meeting for some reason, who knows why. Still, he was never one to shy away from danger, and there wasn’t much they could do to him, anyway.

Jack was caught off-guard when Gabriel developed out of smoke close by, on his right. 

“What are you doing?” Gabriel asked, sounding like a parent that had just caught his child misbehaving. 

He did it. He found Gabriel. There was so much he needed to say. However, this was interrupted when he heard a scream in the background, coming from the direction of the Talon gathering. Somebody was in trouble, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let Talon get to them. That hero side of him just never shut up, did it?

“Gonna go kick some ass. Wanna join me?” This should only take a second. He so desperately wanted Gabriel to say yes. Fighting on the same side with Gabriel was something he had been aching to do for so many years now.

To Jack’s dismay, Gabriel shook his head. “There are way too many of them, and Akande is around here. You’ll die. Don’t play the hero for once.”

The head honcho himself was there, huh? This opportunity was perfect. If Gabriel didn’t want to help, he could take care of this himself and come back. “Don’t worry about it. Been through worse.” He slung his gun over his shoulder. “Be back in a minute.” With that, Jack put on his visor and ran around the corner, ready for action. His target was several blocks away and around multiple street corners; he made a mental note that in the darkness of the night, Gabriel would probably be unable to see him. If he had a change of heart and decided to try to follow him, he would probably not be able to see him in the darkness of the night. Oh well. Solo mission time.

“Jack!”

\--

Jack ran into the crowd of agents, guns blazing in a surprise attack. Using this strategy, he managed to catch many of them off-guard, and knocked them out using enhanced strength. Punching an agent out of the way. Throwing one into the wall, then another agent into one of his nearby allies. He made an effort not to kill anybody intentionally, but if there were any casualties, they did bring it upon themselves. Still, killing all of them wouldn’t make him any better than they were. Just need to rough them up a bit, teach them a lesson.

After knocking them away, he searched for whoever he had heard screaming. If Talon was after a single target, they must be valuable to them in some way. He couldn’t let them get access to whoever this was; besides, nobody deserved to be in their custody. Not after what he had found out they did to people.

However, he couldn’t find the person anywhere among the pile of injured grunts. The only thing he saw was something much more interesting in the distance than those grunts: Doomfist himself. For some reason, he hadn’t turned around to face Jack. Maybe he needed a hearing aid or something.

Eventually, Jack had beaten all of the agents in his sight, with all of them having fallen uselessly to the ground. Not dead, as far as he knew, but certainly wouldn’t be a problem for a while. Time to confront that cocky son of a bitch himself. However, Jack then felt a sharp pain in his side and momentarily fell. Looking towards the source of the pain, he saw not Doomfist, but one of the most massive men he had ever seen in his life. Jesus Christ, that hurt. This roid monkey was gonna pay. 

When he tried to get up, though, another almost as large man punched him in the other side. Ow. What was Talon pumping into these people? He nearly shuddered at the thought of Talon finding the same drugs that had been given to him during SEP. 

The two men held him by both arms. It wouldn’t be impossible for him to escape their grip with his own strength, but with the pain in his sides, it would take a little while. The men squeezed at his arms as tightly as they could, making him grunt in pain. He sure as hell wasn’t going to show them how much that hurt by crying out. He’d never give them that satisfaction.

As he continued to resist, Doomfist finally turned around. “I’m disappointed, Morrison. You fell into such an obvious trap.” A nasty smirk was on his face, as he picked up a device and played a recording of a scream. Fuck. Jack cursed his own obsession with heroism. He deliberately spit on the ground in front of Doomfist. Asshole. “My, how rude. I should get on with this before you escape again.” He gave a dark chuckle. Whatever was on his mind, it wasn’t pleasant. Fine. Bring it on, dickhead. 

As Jack bared his teeth at him, Doomfist pulled his fist back. Incredible pain shot through his body as the man’s fist smashed into his stomach. He saw stars for a moment as he heard an unpleasant crunching sound, and blood came pouring out of his mouth and nose. His visor flew completely off his face and landed somewhere down the alley. He hoped that he would recover after a moment, but his dizziness only increased. Even with his enhanced strength, he could tell that some of his organs had been damaged. Felt a lot like when he got crushed by that giant Omnic arm during the Crisis, but somehow worse. A small amount of blood-filled vomit poured out of his mouth. Gross.

Doomfist’s unpleasant “Hm.” was the last thing he heard as the men let him go, causing him to collapse on the ground. No way he’d be able to get up on his own now. This could actually be the end.

Checking on him for a moment, Doomfist then started to walk away, obviously satisfied with his work. The man’s trudging walk was faster than he thought, exuding a smug air as he walked to the east, until he went around a corner and out of his (now impaired) sight. The two men that were holding Jack before also left, leaving only him and a ton of unconscious Talon agents dumped on the ground. At that moment, he saw Gabriel running towards him.

“Jack!” He shouted, pushing partially fallen agents out of his way.

The image of Gabriel coming in his direction started to get fuzzier, only adding to his confusion about the situation.

Gabe…? 

\--

Gabriel reached Jack and kneeled down to the ground, not bothering to deal with the fallen Talon agents nearby. He held Jack’s head up. This could not be happening.

“Keep your eyes open. Stay with me.” He lightly shook Jack once, trying not to aggravate any injuries he had.

“What are you doing…?” Jack winced. “Ow. Hurts.”

Ignoring the question, Gabriel tried to help Jack get on his feet. This was not how Jack Morrison would die.

Jack failed to stand up, and started sliding back to the ground. “Can’t get up. Just wanna lay down for a while,” he said, struggling to talk coherently with blood still pouring out of his mouth.

Jack is going to die.

“No. We’re getting you out of here. Come on.”

“I…” Before he could finish his sentence, his voice gradually faded, and his eyes closed.

No.

_ It’s your fault. _

“Jack, please…”

_ You did this. _

He lifted up Jack’s shirt to inspect his wounds, and the sight made him shudder. His stomach seemed to have collapsed inward, with many large cuts across it. Ribs definitely broken. Obvious organ damage. Blood was still coming out of his mouth and nose. If it weren’t for his enhanced healing, there would probably be barely any of him left intact right now. Still, this damage was way too intense for their SEP healing to save him from. He’d die in ten different ways before the long-term healing even activated. 

_ Why did you do this to him, Gabriel? _

This wasn’t part of the plan. Why did he have to do this? Why did he always have to be a hero? He felt himself tearing up. God damn it, Jack always got him so emotional.

_ He deserved better. Now he’s dead. _

Gabriel stared at the ground for a moment, then heard groaning behind him. Some of the agents from before had started to get up, many of them still appearing dizzy from their injuries. Rage began to boil within him. He turned around to face them, hands balled into fists.

“You’re all dead.”

\--

But Gabriel Reyes was not someone who was deterred so easily. Leaving the ruined bodies of the Talon agents unceremoniously on the ground, he picked Jack up and started to carry him down the alley.

He considered his options. Taking him to the hospital was the obvious one, but how the hell would they know how to operate on these kinds of injuries? No, by the time the regular doctors figured it out, he’d be gone. He needed someone with a unique set of skills.

One option came to mind. Angela. The Gibraltar base wasn’t too far away. He hoped to God that she was there. If not, he could call in transportation for her, but who knew how long that would take? As dubious as it was, he knew that it was the only option that had even a slight chance of working. 

About 30 minutes later (thank God Talon had given him a personal helicopter), he entered the base. It still accepted his old password. Maybe somebody should’ve actually updated that. What terrible security practices. Not wasting any time, he ran through the halls and barged into the medical bay, Jack still in his arms. 

He tried to clean Jack up as much as he could on the way, only doing enough that he wouldn’t waste precious time. His combat medic training was at a solid zero (that was always Jack’s job), so all he could do was try to bandage the open wounds and wrap his stomach in some gauze he had ‘bought’ at a convenience store. It had taken a huge amount of bandaging to cover such large parts of his body, and he really had no idea if he had even patched them properly, so his chances of helping Jack on his own were nonexistent. 

Which was what brought him here.

At the sound of the door being pounded in, Angela jumped. “Who are you?”

Gabriel ignored the question. He charged past the waiting room until he found a triage. After gently lowering Jack’s body (corpse?) onto it, he pointed at him. “Fix him.”

“Are you the Reaper?” She asked, seeming more curious than frightened. “And is that Soldier 76?” Oh right. They didn’t know that he was Jack, or that Jack was alive at all. Whatever. It didn't matter. “Oh my god, what happened?”

“He got hurt. Fix it.”

Angela stared at Jack for a moment, then slowly nodded. “I’ll do what I can.”

Angela tried to heal Jack, with Gabriel at her side the entire time. She had requested he leave and give her more space, but fuck that. He wasn’t going to let Jack out of his sight. So many procedures. Typical bandaging. Surgery. Genetic therapy. It lasted hours. Was it just him, or was she not invested enough in this? Maybe she wasn’t trying enough. He shook off that thought, knowing it was unreasonable.

Unfortunately, Jack was continuing to deteriorate. With each procedure, he seemed to get worse. His blood pressure continued to fall, and Angela tried to give him transfusions, but nothing was working. His breathing was also slowing down, the bumps on the monitor becoming more and more sporadic. As his heart rate started to decline, Gabriel was panicking more and more.

“Please, fix him! What the hell are you doing?!” Gabriel shouted.

“I’m trying!” Angela said, equally as loud. 

“Well, it’s not fucking working!” He was trying not to cry; he couldn’t tell whether it was out of sadness or frustration.

“You’re making it hard for me to focus. I don’t have time to argue right now!”

Gabriel spent the next few hours watching Jack die. He wouldn’t stabilize, no matter what she did. As his condition deteriorated further and further, Jack’s breathing and heart rate started to fall even further, and then completely stopped.

Angela was breathing hard as she said, “I’m sorry.” She hung her head. “He’s gone.”

“No!” Gabriel shouted. He pushed her out of the way and shook Jack as hard as he could. “Wake up, Jack! This isn’t fucking funny!” But Jack’s body didn’t respond at all. His eyes didn’t open, his chest didn’t start to rise, the monitors didn’t flare to life. There was no miracle here.

Jack was dead.

Gabriel fell to his knees. After a moment, he got up and turned his head towards Angela. “You let him die.”

“I did not!” She shouted, putting her hand on her forehead as if trying to deal with a headache.

Gabriel managed to catch his breath. Breathe. Don’t blame others. Not her fault. Jack is dead. Control your anger. Feeling dizzy. Can’t deal with this. Gabriel turned to smoke and rushed out the window, before Angela could say anything else. He had to get out of there. She wouldn’t understand. Nobody would. He needed to be alone, as if running away from the situation would somehow change it. After getting out of the base, he continued to move as quickly as he could, as far away as possible.

Later, he found himself on the couch of his safe house, who knows how far away. He wasn’t even completely aware of what he was doing anymore. Everything felt surreal. This is what being traumatized was like, wasn’t it? But this was so much worse than any injury he’d received in the past. Even worse than the experiments, the explosion that tore his body apart, or any injuries he received in the Crisis. None of them compared to this at all. He felt tangible, physical pain in his chest, so intense it felt like it was going to burst.

He spent most of the next few days staring at the wall. He wasn’t aware of time passing. Or basically anything else. He just stared, not fully comprehending anything. The only moments he remembered were the times he threw up. He punched walls, cried, shouted at nothing, and all of it blurred together. His nanites were unstable the entire time, and he spent half of it as smoke, not able to get up the energy to change into a human form. He didn’t eat. He felt like he could barely breathe.

After a few days, he did manage to snap out of his trance, and only the pain remained. It was unbearable, like he had a part of him completely torn off. Jack was dead. Jack was never coming back. He could never speak to Jack again. He could never hear Jack’s laugh again. He would never get to explain himself to Jack. He lost Jack. He failed Jack. Jack was dead.

The misery and pain started to turn into something else: anger. That same ugly emotion that caused him to ever want revenge. The same vague feeling of deep hatred that made it feel like his insides were on fire. Talon had killed the most important person in his life. Talon had taken everything from him. 

It wasn’t about loyalty to any side anymore. He wanted to destroy everyone who had hurt Jack. All of the pain that Jack had gone through, and he never got the opportunity to have a happy ending to his life. The world had broken him, and he never got the chance to be repaired. Everyone that did that to him would pay.

At that moment, in that unlit house on the dark and moonless night, Gabriel swore that he would get his revenge for Jack. He would make Jack’s life have an impact, even if it had to be in the most violent way possible. He would have no regret or remorse. He would take the most painful methods that were necessary. This wasn’t about personal pleasure. It was what he had to do. Even if it cost him his own life, he would avenge Jack. It would start with Talon, but it wouldn’t necessarily end there. 

After tearing the Talon emblem off of it, he donned his Reaper cloak and mask, and took out his shotguns. 

It’s time to kill.


	2. Death Comes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get worse.

Gabriel entered his room in Talon headquarters in Rome, kicking off the first part of his plan. His room had always been so depressing and sparsely decorated. How fitting. After a bit of fiddling, he managed to break the outlet on the wall in a way that would send a spark out if it was used. Good start. He considered asking Sombra to help him, but decided there was a chance she would try to stop him. He had no interest in hearing any objections to this. This was what he had to do, and nobody could deter him from it. If she tried, he might snap at her, and she didn’t deserve that.

The outlet could be activated via a remote control even from outside of the building. He tested it by pushing the button from a short distance away. Just as intended, it sent a spark out, a small bit of white light that leapt from the outlet and onto the floor. If the setup worked like it was supposed to, the spark would come out when he activated it, and not at any moment before.

The final preparation was one that would certainly be suspicious to anyone watching, to say the least. Luckily, he had demanded cameras be kept out of his room long ago, for ‘security reasons’ (really, he just didn’t want anyone seeing his ruined body). Without any need to worry about outside interference, he took out a canister and poured gasoline all over the floor, taking care to put as much as possible near the outlet. Perfect. Unfortunately, testing this was certainly not a good idea, so he had to have faith that it would work. 

With his preparations complete, Gabriel left the building and stood before the front of it. The bright sunlight illuminated the giant  _ T  _ on the front of the building. His hatred surged as he saw that disgusting logo. None of them were free from the punishment they’d receive. There was only one person he felt was worth saving. So, he opened the comm link she had programmed into his own cloak (without permission, obviously), and rang up Sombra.

Luckily, she picked up immediately. “Gabi,” she said, sounding uncharacteristically serious. She paused for a moment before saying, “Heard what happened. I’m sorry.” Neither of them had to say what she was referring to. He appreciated that she at least gave a fuck, but she was starting to make him tear up again. No. Not now. He was on a mission. He took a deep breath and tried to block the thoughts out of his mind - something he had learned how to do a long time ago to prevent guilt from keeping him from taking important actions. But, unlike those times, he didn’t feel any guilt for this. They deserved it.

“Sombra, you need to get out of HQ. You have 5 minutes. Bring Amelie if you want.” He said, voice low. “The whole building is going to be destroyed by ‘someone’.” He wished she could see his sarcastic air quotes, but hopefully she felt his disdain. “You’re the only one in there that deserves to get out. So leave.”

“Gabi…” She started.

“I don’t want to talk. 5 minutes.” He abruptly hung up. A few moments later, he saw a brief flash of a light purple outline run past him, with Amelie in tow. So she did decide to bring her. Whatever. As long as she didn’t have anything to do with what happened to Jack, he didn’t care. And if he found out she did, he wouldn’t give her any more mercy than the rest of them.

He re-entered the building and used the elevator, trying to appear as normal and inconspicuous as possible. Luckily, there were many grunts in the building at the moment, maximizing potential casualties; despite this, they had learned a long time ago that bothering him was a bad idea, so none of them spoke to him. That was good, because he really didn’t want to be pestered right now. He might snap and kill one of them, which would certainly blow his cover. 

After reaching the right floor, Gabriel walked into Akande’s office. Hopefully, he was still under the pretense that he had no issue with what Akande had done, and that he was happy with his job. Even the idea of him thinking that just pissed Gabriel off even more.

He slammed the door behind him. “You could have knocked,” Akande said, with that characteristic arrogant air behind it that always made Gabriel want to punch him in the face. He was lucky that his expression was always hidden by the mask. What a scumbag. Thinking he can just get away with killing Jack? Taking everything that mattered from him? His stomach turned at even the sight of him, and he started shaking with rage.

Nothing filled him with more satisfaction than taking out both shotguns and blasting Akande’s head off before he even had time to react. 

His body fell on the floor. Tch. The powerful Doomfist reduced to a corpse. Pathetic. He lifted his mask up and spat on the body, then kicked it out of the way. 

Now, the real action could begin. For the first time since Jack’s death, he smiled, but it wasn’t out of normal happiness. This was his vengeance, and it filled him with the nastiest rush of pleasure. 

Akande had a lockdown button in his office that would close every door and window in HQ. Something about preventing people from going in or out if they betrayed him. What a paranoid asshole. Not paranoid enough to avoid him, he supposed. Gabriel located it and pushed it, causing the large windowpane behind him to be blocked by iron; he heard clamping sounds that told him this was happening to the other external doors and windows, as well. Perfect. He wondered what the others in the building would think. He supposed it didn’t matter, because even if they were suspicious, they couldn’t get out anyway.

Gabriel shadow stepped out of the building, landing safely on the ground outside. Birds chirped around the base while a light wind blew, and the city looked as peaceful as a city the size of Rome could look. Not for long. Gabriel pushed another button. The one that activated his little trap. Evidently, the plan had worked, because he heard an explosion, and the building caught fire.

As the building started to burn, there wasn’t any smoke visible because of the lockdown (which also meant no smoke could get out, which was absolutely perfect), and the sound within the building was intentionally blocked as much as possible (a way to keep operations under wraps), but he started to hear muffled screams. The fire was probably reaching people’s rooms. Just for his own amusement, he used his comm link to access a security camera, and saw people running in panic through a hallway. Honestly, it was kind of funny to see them scramble like that. 

He moved out of sight of any passerby, as a crowd started to gather, clearly hearing the same thing he had. No need to get himself spotted. Not that the police could really do much with him, but it would still be an inconvenience. The humor of the situation kept building for him as he heard more screams, and he started to laugh a bit. These people thought they could take the only thing that mattered to him? They didn’t need their lives, then. It brought him joy to see them burn, as he saw fire engulf people and heard their wretched sounds of pain as they burned to death. 

Was he a monster? Probably. But this was what they deserved. And revenge was so, so sweet.

\--

Not entirely sure of where to go, Gabriel decided to return to his safe house in Spain. It was the closest thing he had to a home at the moment, now that HQ was gone. Thinking of it that way - their base was really  _ gone,  _ and so many of them dead - filled him with some kind of mix of joy and guilt.  _ You can’t take it back now. Better to make peace with it. Feeling bad about it will destroy you. _

While he walked from his helicopter back to the house, he entered a small forest. Better to get as much cover as possible, because he really wanted to be alone right now. The lush greenery that surrounded him felt very unfitting for his current mental state. As if he were on some kind of peaceful stroll on a normal day. On his way, he spotted a rustling in the bushes. He froze. He had used stealth enough times to know what that meant - somebody was there, and they were trying to get his attention without approaching him directly.

“I hear you. Come out.” He said. Who was this?

He got his answer quickly, as Genji moved out from the shadows. What was he doing here?

“Oh. What is it?” He tried to sound as casual as possible. Considering his current internal turmoil, it probably wasn’t working very well.  _ Nice job not being suspicious.  _

“I know what you have done, Reaper.” Genji had a slightly sharp tone in his voice, as if he was trying to be intimidating. Cute. “Angela told me you were there when Morrison died.” God damn, he hated hearing people referring to Jack as being dead, even if it was true. “She said you were at his side the entire time, and that you were very upset. Talon headquarters goes up in flames a few days later? That would have been difficult for someone without internal access.”

“Yeah? And what about it?” He responded, not backing down from a challenge.

“The path you are going down will only lead to suffering for everyone.” Genji stood completely upright, stance unwavering. “I understand you are in pain. I have experienced this type of loss myself. Revenge will not bring you happiness.”

Ha! If this wasn’t pissing him off as much as it was, he would have laughed aloud. “You don’t understand. Don’t fucking act like you do,” Gabriel growled.

“Reaper, I believe in giving people second chances. Come with me, and my master and I will help you manage your emotions. He will be willing to take you in, and we can help you recover. If you come with me, you can grieve in a peaceful manner. You do not have to go down this path.” 

“I don’t need your approval,” he said with a snarl. “You don’t get it. You don’t know what it’s like to lose something like what me and Jack had.” 

“So you refuse?” Genji stepped forward. “I did not want to do this. But I must, for the protection of everyone.” In one quick motion, Genji pulled the blade from his back and leapt at Gabriel. Gabriel wraithed just in time to avoid being slashed. 

“Oh, you want to fucking fight? Bring it on, I’ll kill you too!” Adrenaline was already pumping into Gabriel. Finally, something resembling a worthy opponent. He still wasn’t entirely sure if even a dragon could kill him, but if anything could come close, that would be it. A small part of him was screaming at him to be reasonable and try not to kill him, but Genji had awakened the monster inside of him. It was too late for him.

Genji threw a shuriken at him, which Gabriel ducked to avoid; it hit a tree behind them, leaving an imprint. When Genji leapt at him again, blade in hand, Gabriel shadow stepped into the branches above him. Genji seemed to quickly notice where he was, as he started to jump straight upwards. Score. Gabriel kicked straight down, hitting Genji in the faceplate and knocking him off balance. Although Genji managed to stick the landing back on the ground, the time he spent adjusting himself was enough for Gabriel shadow step behind him and knock the blade out of his hands from its handle. 

The response was swift; Gabriel was quickly greeted with an elbow to the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Fuck, that hurt. As Genji swooped in to give him a much more severe blow, Gabriel wraithed, causing him to crash into a tree. With that distraction, Gabriel slipped under him and knocked him over, pinning Genji to the ground by stepping on him.

He took his shotgun out of its holster and pointed it directly at Genji’s head. “Any last words?”

Although he was breathing hard, Genji posture remained steady. Still not afraid, all the way to his end. “I will not entertain your theatrics.” A part of Gabriel wished he could see Genji’s face right now, to see if there was any fear in those features. 

“What a shame.” He lowered his head so Genji could look more closely at his mask, fingers still on the trigger of the gun. “And guess what, Shimada?” Gabriel put his mask up. “I’m Gabriel.” 

_ BANG _

\--

Gabriel stared at the ceiling as he laid on the couch in his safe house, watching the fan spin around. Night had fallen, but he hadn’t even bothered to turn the light on. As if he could somehow escape reality by not being able to see it. He didn’t feel guilty for what he’d done. At least, he didn’t think so. He couldn’t even tell what he was feeling specifically anymore; all of his emotions were just an unpleasant mass that was hard to even differentiate. Anger, sadness, grief, guilt, vindication, what did he even feel anymore? Whatever it was, he hated all of it.

Sure, he could rationalize that the people in the Talon building deserved it. They were part of the organization that stole Jack from him. Feeling any sympathy for them was difficult. But what about Genji? He had never hurt Jack. Although Gabriel wasn’t sure of their relationship, he had gotten the sense before that Jack wanted to help Genji when he was hurting. He recalled a time that Jack had told him he felt sorry for Genji for how much he was struggling, back when Blackwatch was active and he was still consumed with so much anger. Just like Genji had tried to help him. Maybe he was right - was Gabriel any different than he had been?

But Genji had gotten in the way of his mission. There was no other option. Genji had tried to kill him, and he had a greater purpose right now than his own life. If Genji had gotten his way, there was no way he could’ve gotten his revenge for Jack. Jack’s life would’ve ended on an unsatisfying conclusion. He deserved better than that. 

So why did his stomach twist with guilt every time he thought about it? 

He must have drifted off to sleep, because he found himself in a white void. In the distance, Jack stood. For a moment he felt a surge of excitement, until he realized this was a dream, and Jack really wasn’t coming back, was he? Jack, or the vision of him, walked towards him, a glow surrounding his body. Like some kind of angel, only missing the halo. He gave Gabriel a benevolent smile, as Gabriel fell to his knees.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you, Jack.” He said, feeling himself start to cry again. 

Jack reached down and cupped his cheek in his hand. “Gabe, I know you’re hurting so much. But you’ve got to stop this. You can’t take it out on everyone else.”

Gabriel leaned into his hand, tears falling. “I can’t just let them get away with everything they’ve done to you. Please understand. I’m so sorry.” He knew Jack would hate what he was doing right now. He would think it was so wrong. Be so disappointed.

To his surprise, though, Jack’s smile didn’t fade. “I don’t judge you,” he said, as if he’d read Gabriel’s mind. 

“I miss you so much, Jack.” Gabriel was breathing hard.  _ Pull yourself together. Don’t show him how pathetic you are.  _ Yeah, a little too late for that. 

“Me too.” Jack nodded.

“I just want to die too, so I can be with you again, but I don’t think I can. Is there any way you can help me?” Look at him, asking for help from an illusion in a dream. Was this what he’d been reduced to? 

He frowned. “You know I can’t do that. I wish I could be with you, too.” To Gabriel’s horror, Jack’s form started to fade. “I have to go, Gabe.”

He held onto Jack’s legs, desperately trying to keep him from disappearing. “Will I ever see you again?” But it was too late; Jack’s body was almost gone, and if he responded, Gabriel couldn’t hear him. “Jack!” He cried, but Jack’s body had completely disappeared, leaving him alone in that white void.

Gabriel’s eyes opened, and he felt that they were filled with tears. He was sure he wasn’t going to get any more sleep that night. He looked at the clock and saw that only two hours had passed. Operating on that little sleep would just make him feel even worse. He stared at the ceiling fan again, cursing his own life. Why couldn’t he die? Was he cursed to be without Jack for the rest of his life? How long would that last? There was no way he could handle living without him forever. 

He spent the rest of that night crying on that couch in the dark, and he’d never felt more alone in his life.

\--

The next morning, Gabriel managed to pick himself up off the couch, running only on adrenaline. As he saw the sun rise outside of the lone window in his house, he considered the sight of the light red dawn sky. Maybe years ago he would’ve found this beautiful. But now, he felt nothing when he looked at it. The only emotions he felt right now were unpleasant ones. There was no more happiness in his life. The only piece of happiness he had was taken away from him. That thought caused his rage to build again.

He tried to control it. He rocked back and forth on the couch, he paced around the room, anything to burn off the feeling. But it wouldn’t go away. His fury only kept growing, and the thoughts he had only continued to become more violent. Fantasies of murdering those remaining that had hurt Jack. All kinds of painful ways to do it, too; poisoning, shooting, cutting up, crushing, everything he could imagine. 

No. Control it. There had always been a monster inside of him, and the one thing that helped keep it at bay was Jack. The knowledge of how much it would hurt Jack was enough to keep him from giving in. But now that Jack was gone, there was nothing to stop it, and its power over him only increased. This unbearable, burning rage he felt within him that he had to release somehow for fear that it may consume him completely. This had always existed. And now that they took Jack away from him, it had free reign, and it was growing stronger.

Fight it. Stop yourself before you get any worse. 

Maybe they’ll have something that would help him at the Overwatch base. Some kind of technology. Or even just the familiar sights, positive memories, something to give him some kind of fleeting happiness that would keep the violent thoughts at bay for at least a little while. He would try not to show any of the chaos he was feeling. Maybe he could even try to make up with some of the people there. Just be normal.

He managed to find his way back to the base about an hour later. Wandering the hallway closest to the entrance, he didn’t see anyone around. Eventually, he found someone: it was Angela. Oh god. No. 

As he looked at her, the violence started returning to his mind. She failed Jack. She let him die. If she had tried harder, he might still be here. No, that thought process wasn’t rational. Stop it. Trying to ground himself in reality and silence his mind as much as possible, he directed his gaze at her face. If she was surprised at him being here, she didn’t show it. 

She looked down at the ground. “Hello. If you want to know, the funeral proceedings for Jack will be next Wednesday.” So she did know who ‘Soldier 76’ really was. She must have found out while operating; yet she still let him die? No, stop. Not her fault. When he came back to reality, he heard her sigh, then give him a look that seemed way too stern for Gabriel’s comfort. “I wanted to ask if you’d help, but you ran away before I could. You should’ve stayed and listened.” 

That was when he snapped.

Before she could say anything else, Gabriel started seeing red, and that’s when his memory goes foggy for a little while. He remembered tackling her to the ground in a rage. He remembered that she was knocked unconscious when she hit the floor. He remembered picking her up and carrying her across the lowest floor of the base, which seemed to be nearly empty. Maybe everyone else was still asleep.

His memory comes back around there, as he thought about what he would do with her. Obviously can’t show anyone. He couldn’t talk to anyone about this. Not right now. They might ask him how he feels or try to help him. Overwatch was full of people who seemed to think they were qualified as therapists. Their pity would piss him off, now that Jack...When that thought started, his rage started to increase again, and he started carrying her much more roughly. She failed him. 

Where to put her? He remembered a room from the days of Blackwatch - one Jack certainly never knew about. Under the base, there was a room with makeshift miniature prisons, to hold dangerous people until they were interrogated. It was out of sight for anyone who wasn’t specifically looking for it. Probably the best option. Needed somewhere where nobody would find her, because only he and the other Blackwatch members had ever known about this place, as well as somewhere that she couldn’t escape. Hopefully, nobody would be suspicious of her absence for a little while.

He started to carry Angela down a corridor, then opened a secret trapdoor. Climbing down the stairs there, he eventually reached the room. It was dark as hell, with only a few metal tables on the floor along with what really amounted to cages around the sides. This place always creeped him out, which was exactly the point. There were few better ways to make someone talk than to make sure they were pressured, and a room this uncomfortable was one that no one wanted to be in. The place was a punishment in of itself. 

After he opened the cage and not-very-gently lowered Angela inside, he stood in front of the cage, taking in his surroundings. The air felt stagnant down here, and no sound from the above floors reached it. The linoleum floor gave off a certain clean vibe that was entirely unsuited for this kind of place. Did she really deserve this? Some kind of voice, the last remaining shred of his morality, was telling him no. That he should try to talk this out with her instead of lashing out like this, and that hurting her wouldn’t bring Jack back. But the much more dominating voice started analyzing her actions during the surgery and seeing ways where she seemed to be slacking or making mistakes. Not enough blood transfusions. Too slow on preparing for surgery. Not advanced enough genetic therapy. No. She did deserve this. With that thought confirmed in his mind, he went back up the stairs to the trapdoor.

On to the next part of his plan. He called for his personal helicopter again, starting to make his way out of the base to catch it outside. Off to Oasis.


	3. Demon

Gabriel’s black smoke slipped through the Ministry of Genetics. The hallways were sparsely decorated; gray walls, white floors, and barely any lighting. How creepy. He probably would be on the watchlist by now, considering he’d made no real effort to cover up who destroyed Talon HQ or killed Akande. The general public might not know, but he was sure the remaining Talon members would manage to connect the dots. His smoke form allowed him to sneak in relatively unnoticed, but they’d probably realize he was there eventually.

Everything about this place had always disgusted him. The unpleasant chemical smell, the cold and unfeeling vibe that existed throughout it, the students that would stare at him like he was a freak. They didn’t care about anything except their twisted vision of science, and their lead scientist was the worst offender in this regard. He would find her as soon as he could, not wanting to give her even a second more of freedom.

“Hello, Gabriel.” He heard a voice behind him. Moira. He wondered for a moment how she noticed him, but realized that as the one who basically created this form, she must understand it better than anyone. Maybe even better than him. That made her dangerous. Her cold and calculating tone had an accusatory edge to it, meaning that she probably already knew what he had done. Good. He didn’t want to impress her. Maybe she’d be afraid of him. 

Gabriel returned to a human form and said nothing, only staring at her, hoping the red eyes within the mask would bore into her and make her feel any kind of guilt for what she’d done. Of course, it probably wouldn’t. She never had anything resembling empathy. So much of Overwatch’s fall had been her fault. That fall that broke Jack’s heart, and separated them for years. Disgusting. He felt no remorse making her his next target.

He rushed towards her, trying to make it appear that he was going to attack her head-on. She faded away. Perfect. He grinned and shadow stepped behind her. Without even giving her a chance to look back, he punched her in the head. The impact sent her falling to the ground with a harsh thud. He looked down at her and saw that she was unconscious. Everything was going according to plan.

He picked her up and carried her through the Ministry. While he was going through the halls, a young scientist stared at him. “Moira fell unconscious. I’m taking her back to her living quarters. Move out of the way.” He considered just killing the scientist. He was a student under Moira, and probably deserved it just for that. The judgmental stares of the scientists had always pissed him off, and it would be satisfying to watch those eyes close for the last time. Still, he didn’t want to set off any alarms and cause any more of an inconvenience to himself than he already had. So, he let the man go. For now. Pushing him out of the way, he went down the hall, reaching the door before anyone else got to see him.

Oasis was a beautiful place, really. The landscape had so many beautiful colors, and the sun shone so bright on the area. Sure, it brought searing heat, but it gave intense light to a place that would otherwise be just a bunch of dull educational buildings. Unfortunately, the aesthetics of this place were ruined by the memories of all of the experiments Moira had performed on him here. Gruesome, terrible ones, ones that felt like his whole body was being torn apart and then rebuilt. Years of it. Although his revenge was mainly for Jack, those memories certainly made harming her a little bit more enjoyable for him.

He dropped in his personal helicopter (autopilot was such a nice invention, because he certainly didn’t want to deal with negotiating with a pilot right now about why he was carrying an unconscious Talon inner council member), wasting no time to avoid being spotted by anyone else. Luckily, it was relatively quiet outside; the boiling heat meant that people stayed inside as much as possible, and often there were little to no people outside during the daytime. 

Now, all he had to do was take her to his underground room in the Overwatch base, and the fun could really begin.

\--

A patch that hacked into the nano technology in a person’s body and stopped it from working. Sombra had made them a long time ago, and Gabriel had swiped one from her room in case he would ever need it. Now, it turns out he did. A perfect way to stop Moira from fading away from the fate she deserved. After bringing her to the underground room in the base, he had attached the patch to her and chained her up to a table, similar to all of the horrific experiments she performed on him on an operating table. Karma works in mysterious ways, huh? 

Even thinking about those experiments made his blood boil. All of her betrayal, all of the ways she had harmed his body...this played such a major role in him and Jack’s separation. All of those years that they could’ve spent together, wasted. All of the pain Jack went through. Every time he cried. All of that just assured him even further that she deserved this.

He had removed his mask for this purpose. He wanted her to see his every facial expression as he took his revenge, for the twisted joy on his face to be the last thing she saw before her death. If there was an afterlife, that could be the last thing imprinted on her mind as she burned in Hell.

Angela still sat in the makeshift cage he’d created on the other side of the room. She had regained consciousness just a few moments ago. He had deliberately waited until she woke up before commencing this part of his plan.

“Why did you bring me here? Are you insane?” She finally noticed that the person he was chaining up was Moira, as Gabriel moved away and no longer blocked her view. “What are you going to do to her?” Angela said, sounding afraid.

“I’m going to kill her,” he responded, simply. “And you’re going to watch.”

Her breathing stopped for a moment. “Why?”

He kept his gaze focused on the ground, his hands balled into fists. As if she didn’t know. “You made me watch Jack die, now I’ll make you watch her die.” Before Angela could respond, Moira started to wake up. “Oh, good morning!” Gabriel said, with a bitter grin.

As she opened her eyes and noticed her surroundings, she said, “You’ve lost your mind, Gabriel,” keeping that nonplussed expression she always seemed to have under stress.

“Maybe.” He chuckled. Without another word, he took the claw of his armor and dug it deeply into her stomach. She let out an involuntary groan. Not so composed now, huh?

“Stop!” Angela shouted. “I know she’s a bad person, but you aren’t any better than her if you do this.”

Gabriel laughed. Ridiculous. “Ha! I promise I am.” He made sure to keep his claws in there for a few moments, then slowly dig them out, maximizing the pain and revelling in the way Moira’s breathing picked up. “And funny how you care so much about her life. You sure as hell didn’t care that much about Jack’s.”

“I did! I tried to save him, I promise!” Angela was starting to shake, visibly enough that even Gabriel could see it from where he was standing.

“Not hard enough.” He dug his claws into her arm this time, working it downward. The sound of splattering blood was music to his ears, as was the sickly squishing sound of the muscles of her arms being sliced through. Moira was trying to keep her composure. As if she would somehow defy him by not responding. Not giving him any satisfaction. But oh, he was absolutely getting all of the satisfaction he needed.

“Stop it!” Angela was nearly screaming now as she covered her ears, presumably trying not to hear the sound of Moira’s blood hitting the sides of the table. “Please, I’m begging you, stop!” 

“OK, how about this.” Gabriel put his finger up as if he had a sudden idea, blood dripping off of it. “Let’s make a deal. If you apologize to Jack enough times to convince me you feel _really _bad, maybe I’ll let you go and you won’t have to watch anymore. But you better hurry, because I don’t think she’ll last much longer.” To illustrate that statement, he dug his claws further into Moira’s arm, nearly passing through to the other side. That felt so damn good. Maybe he could get it to come all the way out of her arm.

“I’m sorry Jack, I’m sorry Jack, I’m sorry Jack, I’m sorry Jack, I’m sorry Jack…” Angela repeated.

She was actually doing it! That was rich. He laughed again, then turned his full attention to Moira. “Do you know why you’re here, Moira?”

“Because you’re angry about Morrison, are you not?” God dammit, the way she said that as if Jack’s life didn’t even matter made him more pissed off than he already was.

“Bingo.” He dug his claws into her leg, savoring the way her breath hitched in response. The pain must have been absolutely incredible. He heard Angela’s apologies grow louder and more desperate in the background. “Do you know how much Jack suffered when Overwatch started declining?” 

She turned her head away, and Gabriel managed to spot a quick wince from her as his claw continued to grind across the inside of her arm. So this was hurting her that much. Perfect. “It is easy to blame me, isn’t it? You do not acknowledge your own role in the destruction of the organization.”

Was she really trying to turn this back on him? “Ha! Nice try. This is about your crimes, not mine.” He started to pace around in front of the table. “Tell me. Were you a Talon plant into Overwatch the whole time? You never gave me a straight answer about that.”

She still didn’t look in his direction. “I am not one to crack from the torture of an insane man.”

Gabriel laughed again. “That sounds like a yes to me.” Turning his head towards the cage, he shouted, “What do you think, Angie?” Angela looked towards him, seemingly frozen in place. “I don’t know why you stopped apologizing. Are you enjoying yourself now? My, how twisted of you,” he mocked, as he stabbed the claw into Moira’s side, feeling it pierce through her flesh; he raked it downwards until he touched her hip bone. Angela had started apologizing again, faster than before. There we go.

“It’s funny, Moira. You were so obsessed with using us for your ‘discoveries’, and now you can discover the pain you put us through personally!” He took both hands and stabbed the claws into both sides of her left leg, slashing all the way down to the knee.

Her expression only changed to one of slight disdain, still trying not to show any kind of pain or suffering. “You can kill me, but it won’t bring him back, and there are others like me. You can’t hold back progress.”

“I’m tired of hearing your fucking voice!” As much as he was enjoying the torture, he wanted to end this. So, he took his shotgun off the holster and fired into her chest. As her blood splattered on the walls, he heard Angela crying in the background. 

Angela was Jack’s friend, wasn’t she?

Hearing her cry made him consider what he was doing, as he put his shotgun away. He had become a monster. The beast that was inside of him had finally consumed him. Jack would be so disgusted with who he was now. But Jack could never make the tough decisions, could never understand how causing others pain was sometimes necessary. And this was necessary. If he had to be a monster to stop these people from ever putting anyone else through the pain the two of them had gone through, then so be it. His own humanity was a worthy sacrifice.

He had become death. The one who sent to Hell those that deserved it. 

\--

After the torture was over, Gabriel left the room to dispose of the body. No sense leaving it in there to start stinking up the place. He didn’t bother cleaning her blood too closely; it wasn’t as if anyone would come in here, anyway; and if they did, they certainly wouldn’t come out alive to tell anyone. He planned to get Angela some water while he was out - he hadn’t decided yet if he was going to kill her or not, and if he wasn’t, he didn’t want her to die of thirst. Starvation wouldn’t be a problem for a few more days, but dehydration was more urgent.

He decided that the best way to dispose of Moira’s body was to incinerate it. To do that, he thought it’d be best to go outside, to keep the fumes out of the building. There was a door to the outside relatively close to the room, just through the trapdoor and a few doors down the hall. That was what lead him just outside of the base with a match. After picking some branches off the trees, he felt satisfied with the amount of fuel he had. He sure as hell didn’t have any intention of doing this in a respectful way. 

He dug a pit large enough to hold the corpse, to keep the flames as contained as possible. After doing that, he threw the body inside, then lit the match, touching it to the branch. The flames started small, but quickly began growing in the dry heat of Gibraltar; he threw the branches and match inside the hole. Quickly enough, a fire started to develop that was large enough to consume the body. The smell of burning flesh hit his nose, and he relished in the thought of any trace of Moira’s existence being reduced to ash.

He watched for a while, until the flames had burned themselves out. Luckily, no one had come. As he started to fill the hole, he heard footsteps coming from nearby. Shit. No trace of the body existed outside of the hole, and the smell had mostly faded. He managed to fill it at that moment, probably fast enough that whoever was coming wouldn’t see. Hopefully.

There was no way he’d escape a conversation with them, though.

The man that came towards him - it took him a moment, but he recognized him. Jean-Baptiste Augustin. Never had too many interactions with him, but that shitface Doomfist talked about him as some kind of ‘traitor’. Gabriel had never really cared that much.

“Hello?” Baptiste said, giving him a quizzical stare for a moment. However, after scanning Gabriel’s features for a moment, his expression changed to one of sympathy. Oh god, that pissed him off. “Oh. Hi. Are you the one Angela told me about? The one that was with Mr. Morrison when he was killed?” 

Not wanting to arouse suspicion of the fact that he had the aforementioned Angela locked in a cage right now, Gabriel simply nodded. 

Baptiste lifted up a strange disc. “I’m really sorry.” He sighed. “I know I shouldn’t blame myself, but if I had been there, we could’ve used this, and he might have made it.”

Gabriel froze in place.

Baptiste smiled nervously. “Not to dump all of my feelings on you, of course. I’ll just take this” -- along with the disc, he had a box of other medical supplies -- “to the clinic.”

_ If I had been there, he might have made it. _

_ If I had been there. _

But he wasn’t. Gabriel felt the monster inside of him start to rise again. Oh no.

“What is that?” Gabriel asked, gesturing towards the disc.

“It’s an immortality field. It would keep him alive, at least temporarily. I don’t know if that would’ve saved him, but it might have been worth a shot.” He looked at the ground. “He was a good man.” Gabriel started to tear up when he said that, and had to fight back as hard as he could to keep himself from crying again.

He didn’t even know this man. But he had the opportunity to save Jack’s life, and he was off in some other place? What kind of shitty doctor isn’t even available when an important patient is about to die? He let Jack die. How was he any better than the rest of them? No, he had to be punished too.

Gabriel realized that Baptiste was starting to walk towards the base without him. “I’ll go with you,” he said. “I’ll take you to Angela directly.” He started walking towards the base. Baptiste cocked his head to the side slightly, then shrugged and followed.

Gabriel opened the door and gestured inside. “After you.” Baptiste flashed him a smile. Was he trying to charm him now? Pfft, if he thought he would get a lesser punishment for that, he was out of his fucking mind. Gabriel knew exactly what he deserved.

As Baptiste made it inside, Gabriel took out his shotgun and slammed it over Baptiste’s head. The other man fell to the ground, unconscious. Luckily, he didn’t leave any blood on the floor. So much easier to clean up when it was all in one place. Gabriel picked him up and took him back outside, a bit of distance away from the base. He unceremoniously dumped him onto the grass. Without any hesitation, Gabriel leveled the gun at the unconscious man’s head, then fired. 

Now that the deed was done, he had to dig another hole and get another match. What an inconvenience. He returned to the base and went down the trapdoor into the interrogation room, which was where he had left his box of matches; on his way, he got Angela’s water. As he passed by Angela’s cage, he was filled with fresh fury. Fucking useless doctors. Just letting Jack die. Did they even care? Was he just another statistic to them? It made him sick to his stomach.

“Angela?” He said. She put her head up slightly. He pushed the cup of water through the bars of the cage. “Your friend Baptiste came by.” Her eyes widened. “You had a device that could’ve prevented someone from dying? That would’ve been pretty useful,” he said, giving his voice a mocking edge.

“What did you do to him?” She said, trembling.

“Let’s just say that I made a trade. Jack’s life for his. Oh, and your ninja friend was interest.” Gabriel chuckled. Angela started to cry again.

“Why are you doing this? I thought you were our friend,” She asked, choked out through her own sobbing. He realized that his mask was still off, and she had heard Moira call him ‘Gabriel’, so she likely knew who he was.

Even though it made him reconsider before, the monster inside him told him to ignore her attempts at gaining his sympathy. It was so underhanded of her to just try to avoid her fate by appealing to pity. Like she was so innocent. When he thought about it that way, her crying just started to make him more pissed off. He grabbed the matches and went back to the trapdoor.

“Because you fucking deserve it.” He slammed the door behind him.


	4. Destruction

The mood of the entire Gibraltar base had been somber since the members of Overwatch had heard the news of Soldier 76’s -- or rather, Jack’s -- death. When Angela had operated on him, she had discovered who he really was, and told the rest of them. Lena supposed that if there was really no way to know a person’s body better than having to focus on it during surgery for hours. 

She wasn’t sure how to deal with his second death, this time for real. Even if Jack and 76 were the same person, it still felt like she was losing someone new with his death; and even as 76, he had always been a sort of father figure for her. When she really needed him (and she could actually find him), he was always willing to help. Even though she acted like he was just bugging her, she had appreciated his advice. The loss of him left a void in her, no matter who he was.

“Does anyone know where Dr. Ziegler is?” Winston asked, walking into the recreation room with a slight limp. 

McCree tipped his hat upwards and looked up at Winston from his position on the couch. “You step on a rock again?” 

“No!” Winston looked away for a moment. “...Maybe.” Normally, these kind of antics would make her laugh, but she didn’t feel like laughing right now. All she wanted to do was sit here and try to distract herself. Running from her problems had always worked in the past, right?

“No. Haven’t seen her today. Maybe she’s in the clinic,” McCree said. He sighed. “You should probably leave her be. Gotta be traumatized by all of this.” Come to think of it, Lena hadn’t seen her at all today or yesterday. Initially, she had brushed it off as her simply grieving, but it wasn’t like her to completely disappear for that long. Truth be told, Lena had been too wrapped up in her own emotions to even consider where the others were, and she suspected many others on the base were having the same experience.

“That’s the second day in a row. Do you think she’s in trouble?” Winston asked, voice full of concern. 

“Dunno.” McCree looked down for a moment. “Come to think of it, any of y'all seen Genji around? Been a couple days without him, too.”

Wait. Genji too? How little had she been paying attention? “You think they’re together somewhere?” Lena asked. But where would they go? Genji had been helping some of the people around the base get over their initial shock, too; it was strange for him to suddenly abandon that. “It’s not like either of them to just run off.”

McCree put his fingers on his chin, as if contemplating something. “Winston, you still got security cameras on the whole base?” They had installed more cameras last month to prevent spies from invading the facilities. Lena had thought it was unnecessarily paranoid of them, but maybe she had been wrong about that after all.

“Uh...yeah. If they’re anywhere on the base, the cameras would tell us. The footage should be just down the hall.” 

Deciding it was the best place to start looking, the three made their way to the security room nearby. The room was dark. More of a closet, really. All that was inside was a chair, a desk, and a wall with many screens on it, one for each room and hallway in the base. Truth be told, Lena had never been in here before. It was kind of mesmerizing, in its own way. Just being able to watch everyone’s lives play out from a bird’s eye view. 

Unfortunately, they weren’t having any luck finding Angela or Genji in the past day’s archives. “That the furthest back they go?” McCree asked, searching through the recordings of the mess hall.

“Yeah. Sorry.” Winston said, looking sheepish. He started to walk in their direction, but Lena heard him kick something. “Ow!” When he did that, a hidden compartment under the desk slowly slid open. 

“Winston, do you know what that is?” Lena bent down to see. It was another screen. She looked down at it and saw a room she had never seen before, a dimly illuminated one that had only tables and a few human-sized cages in it. “That place looks creepy. Did you know we had that?” Winston shook his head. As she scanned it further, she noticed Angela sitting in a cage on the right side of the room. “Doctor Ziegler!” She pointed at the screen, and Winston and McCree leaned down to look. Winston gasped.

“Never thought I’d see that room again…” McCree spoke up next to her.

“What are you talking about?” She asked.

“Used that during Blackwatch. Think I still know where it is. C’mon!” 

Lead by McCree, the three of them raced down the hall. Lena was shocked to discover a trapdoor she had never even heard of before. McCree opened it and looked inside, then beckoned the other two down.

The room was just as uncomfortable as it appeared on the screen. The entire feeling of it sent chills down her spine. Although the security camera was too low definition to tell, especially since the room barely seemed to be lit at all, when she actually looked up close, she could swear she saw small traces of bloodstains in the room. It just made the whole place even more eerie. She looked to her right and spotted Angela in one of the cages, her back against the wall. 

“Doctor Ziegler!”

After fiddling with it a bit, McCree opened the cage, and Angela crawled out. Her hair was a disheveled mess and she looked gaunt, as if she hadn’t had anything to eat since her disappearance. “Who did this to you?” Winston yelled. Whoever they were, they weren’t there at the moment. 

Angela was still shaking as she said, “I-It’s Reyes. He’s insane!” 

“But Reyes is dead, ma’am.” McCree said, appearing bewildered. 

“No. He’s alive, and he’s a murderer.” She jerked her head upwards, as if suddenly realizing something. She grabbed onto McCree’s shirt. “H-he told me he killed Genji. He was lying, right? Genji’s fine, right?” Her breath was coming out in near gasps.

“Uh, we aren’t sure where Genji is.” Winston responded. Lena really needed to talk to him about saying things at the wrong time.

“No!” She shouted, and lowered her head. She was starting to cry. The sight of Angela reduced to this broke Lena’s heart. Whoever did this -- was it really Reyes? -- needed to be brought to justice. 

“Angie, let’s get you outta here.” McCree grabbed onto her arm, then motioned the others to help carry her, as she cried the entire time.

God, Lena wished Jack were here to give her some advice right now.

\--

Gabriel’s plan wasn’t over yet.

He arrived at the UN building in Vienna that morning. After the burning of the Talon headquarters, much of the organization’s activities had started to leak, and the UN was having a meeting of all members on how to deal with the remaining members that were not killed in the fire. Even thinking about members remaining alive aggravated the monster inside of him even further, and inspired him to continue. 

After setting up his device, he returned to his safe house about a mile away and waited for their meeting to commence. He sat in the corner of the room and stared at the wall, a chaotic mess of guilt, spite, and grief mixed together. 

The actions of the UN had led to much of the pressure Jack (and by extension, himself) was constantly put under. They were the ones who voted to destroy Overwatch. They were part of the picture of what made his life collapse. Those merciless pundits made Jack into their monkey, displayed him for everyone to see, then threw him away the minute he became unpopular. _ Kill them all, _the monster echoed. Some of the members had been switched out in the years since the fall of Overwatch, which was a shame, but he was sure that the new ones would make Jack suffer just as much.

Always one for dramatic irony, he had rigged an explosive device to the building, activated by a remote control (which would be impossible for most to get away with, but Gabriel’s ‘special talents’ really did come in handy sometimes). Exactly what happened in Zurich, what nearly killed Jack, would be what killed them. 

7:20pm. They should all be there by now. He set off the device. _ Jack, this is for you. _

_ BOOM _

The sound was far in the distance. He had chosen a device that wouldn’t cause too large of an explosion, mostly damaging only the immediate vicinity. No need to catch too many people outside of those who had it coming.

As he started to hear sirens in the background, everything felt surreal. As if he wasn’t in touch with reality anymore. What had he done?

...What was necessary. 

After a few moments, he turned on a live English-language (his German was always shit) news feed connected to his holo pad. The media would know by now.

_ We’re continuing coverage on the explosion that has occurred at the United Nations building in Vienna. We have a correspondent in a helicopter above the blast zone. Trisha, are you there? _

_ Yes, I am. We’re flying over the UN building right now, or at least where it used to be. Now, it’s just a huge pile of debris. We’re trying to get the camera to show a live recording, but a massive fire has sprung up, and there’s so much smoke. We can barely see. Firefighters are already on the scene, but they’re not having much luck. _

_ It almost looks like the building was never there at all. The explosion was relatively localized, and most surrounding buildings made it out OK, but the UN building itself is just a total loss. The last time we heard from emergency managers, they hadn’t found any survivors from the building. Looking at this from up here, I can’t imagine how anybody could’ve survived. With the fires, the force of the explosion, and the building completely collapsing, it would take a miracle for any of the representatives to have made it out of there alive. _

_ It’s horrifying. We’re being told now that the airspace is being closed for security reasons, and we need to land. I pray for these people and everyone else in Vienna. Back to you. _

No survivors.

That was what he wanted, right?

He didn’t even know. The only thing he knew he wanted was to see Jack again. To find out how he feels about this. He probably doesn’t approve. _ Please forgive me. _But he knew that there was no way for him to die of normal causes. He and Jack would never be reunited, not even in the afterlife, because he would never be able to go there. That thought crushed his soul more than anything.

Was that everyone that needed to die? He could move on to trying to find the surviving Talon agents, or tracking down former politicians that had retired. If he didn’t, what would he do with himself? All he knew anymore was rage and death. _ What do you want from me, demon? _

That was all he was now. A killing machine, to destroy everyone that had ever wronged Jack. As he sat on the floor of the safe house and pulled his knees up to his chest, he realized that would be his fate for the rest of his life. And he tried his best to accept it.

Time to find his next target.

\--

When he returned to the Overwatch base, Gabriel discovered something that filled him with horror: somebody had released Angela. Shit. It would be a miracle if she hadn’t told other people already, and she even knew who he was. He had to get out of here. These people would never understand that what he was doing was necessary. Nobody ever understood him and Jack. They always just made their own assumptions and treated them as fact. Thinking about it just made him even more pissed off.

He had no idea where he would go next. Back to his safe house, he supposed. There were far fewer supplies there, but he could manage, and could always break into places and steal what he needed. He made his way to a wooded area near the base; he risked getting caught if he called his helicopter now, so he just decided to go somewhere with cover for the moment. By the time he entered the woods, Gabriel had come to a decision: his next course of action would be to attack other UN buildings. Of course, now security on those buildings would be ramped up significantly. The chances of him making it in easily were nonexistent. Still, the special powers he had might make it possible. It might be a good idea to wait a little while before trying, though. In the meantime, he would try to track down any Talon agents that hadn’t died in the burning of the headquarters.

How would he find those agents? There might be some kind of database about them at Oasis. Medical records could come in handy sometimes. If he could track them down, he could kill them one by one. No matter how long it took. It would give him something to occupy his time until his next bigger move, and he wanted all of them to die eventually. As he walked out of the small wooded area and worked on devising a plan, staring at the ground the entire time, he noticed a purple outline near him. 

“Sombra, what do you want?” He didn’t look around for her. She wouldn't have made it possible to see her at all if she really didn't want him to notice her. When he jerked his head to the side to see her, she had become visible again, and he noticed that she was crying. He had never seen her cry before. Hell, he had barely ever even seen her be serious. He spotted something in her hand. One of the patches that stopped the nanite abilities.

“I’m sorry, Gabi.” She said, voice shaking a bit. “Gotta save you from yourself.”

She started to move towards him, leaving Gabriel confused. Sombra wasn’t stupid enough to try to fight him head-on, so he doubted she would leap at him like Genji had. No way she’d win that fight, and she knew it. So what else could she have in mind? It had to involve the patch somehow.

Wait. With the way his body was, what would applying the patch do to him…?

He got his answer then, because before he could wraith away, she stuck the patch to his side.

He froze in place instantly. No part of his body would move. A shout from him was stifled as every part of his body started to be ripped apart, and he noticed Sombra’s expression was full of grief before his vision went black. It was horrifically painful; his entire body felt as if it was being torn into pieces. As the nanites that held it together were disabled, he started to degenerate, with only pieces of his body staying intact. He felt some parts of his body falling off. His arms detached from their sockets, and he heard a thump as they dropped to the ground; his chest started to crack as well, and he tracked the pieces of it falling off as they got closer to his heart. 

Suddenly, his eyes opened again, and he saw a figure in the distance.

“Jack…?” He said, recognizing the shape instantly. Great, another fucking dream. Did his mind have to keep playing this cruel trick on him? But this time, when Jack approached him, he seemed much more tangible. Once Jack got to him, Gabriel reached out and touched him, and he had a much more solid form than he had in Gabriel’s dream. This was really him.

“Hey Gabe. Looks like it’s time,” he said, smiling at him. 

Gabriel looked away. “I’m so sorry, Jack. I did all those horrible things. I know you can’t forgive me--” Jack put his finger on Gabriel’s lips.

“None of that matters now. We can be together. We can even be young again.” When he said that, Gabriel’s body returned to its normal form. No smoke, no pain, nothing. Just a normal human body. He looked at Jack, whose hair had gone back to blonde, and the scars on his face had faded. 

Gabriel had tears in his eyes, but for once, they weren’t out of grief. He felt hope swelling in his chest for the first time in years. He and Jack would finally be together again. Nobody else in the world mattered. It was just the two of them. “Come on,” Jack said, smile growing. God, he looked so perfect when he was happy. “Got so much to tell you about.” He reached his hand out, and Gabriel took it.

Holding onto Jack, just as he was always meant to do, Gabriel ran with him into the white light.


	5. Restart

“It’s an international disaster,” Ana said, frowning. She, McCree, Winston, and Lena sat in the recreation room, with Lena trying to help Angela calm down near the corner of the room. Even her best optimism couldn’t help this one; it had been a day since they freed her, and she could still barely talk to them, much less tell them what happened. Of course, she wasn’t feeling particularly optimistic right now, either, especially since they now knew Genji was quite possibly dead as well. How many of her friends was she going to lose? “So many world leaders down at once. It might send governments across the world into chaos.” 

“Do they still not have any idea who did it?” Winston asked, looking down at the ground. Between finding Angela in the cage and the UN building explosion, all in the space of 24 hours, the agents were still clearly in shock, Lena included.

“No idea. Still no leads. Nothin but dead ends.” When Ana sighed, McCree put his hand on her shoulder. “Wish he were here to give us some of his hero shit. Much better at being motivatin’ than I am.”

Ana chuckled. “He would rush in like a fool and put himself in danger again. Just like he always did.” Her eyes betrayed a deep sorrow. 

“I know who did it,” Angela said, catching Lena off guard. Her voice was still shaking slightly, but she managed to speak. “While I was down there, Reyes was talking to himself about how he was going to do something ‘terrible’.” She started to shake again. “I-I would’ve stopped him or told somebody if I could.” 

Lena patted her on the back. “It’s not your fault, Dr. Ziegler.” Angela gave her a weak smile in response.

“You musta mistook him for someone else. Told you, Reyes is dead,” McCree said, although he had a bit of hesitation in his voice. As if he was starting to doubt it as well. Lena wasn’t sure how to feel about it - Angela seemed completely confident (as much as she could be in her condition, at least) that Reyes was the one responsible, and she definitely wouldn’t lie. Could she have really made a mistake about someone they knew that well?

“About that…” Ana started. “Gabriel is still alive. ‘Reaper’ is him.”  _ Wait. Huh?  _ She looked down. “I knew he had changed, but I would never expect him to do something that terrible.” 

McCree stepped back in surprise. After a beat, he walked towards Angela and kneeled down to her level, looking her directly in the eyes. “Angie, you gotta tell us what happened. We need answers.”

Lena was about to tell McCree not to pressure Angela when she was clearly traumatized, but Angela surprised her by taking a deep breath and saying, “Reyes locked me up down there.” Her breathing picked up as she kept speaking. “H-he killed Moira and made me watch.”

Winston cocked his head to the side. “Moira? I thought she was on his side.”

Angela shook her head. “He said he was getting revenge for Morrison’s death. Oh God, it was horrible, there was blood everywhere---” She cut herself off, her breathing becoming too fast for her to speak. She was starting to cry again. Lena’s heart sank watching the kind doctor pushed this far. How could he do something so horrible to their friend? What had he become?

“Do you think he’d do all that for Jack?” Lena asked.

McCree was the one to respond. “If I knew ‘em right, those two would go to the ends of the Earth for each other. Wouldn’t surprise me at all to see him kill for Morrison.”

Ana nodded. “He would kill as many people as he possibly needed to if he thought it would be better for Jack. I thought maybe their bond had weakened after everything, but it seems Gabriel is still just as obsessed as he used to be.” She sighed. “Those two fools.”

Winston slouched a bit, which looked somewhat ridiculous on a gorilla. Maybe that would be funny at any time other than now. “This is horrible. We could stop him now, but it won’t bring back all of those people.”

Lena thought for a moment. If only there was a way to go back and fix all of this. Wait. “Winston, you know how to mess with time, right?” Lena asked, hope reaching her once again.

“Uh, I wouldn’t say it’s  _ that  _ simple…” He started.

But Lena was already on a roll. “If all of this was for Jack’s death, maybe if we go back and keep him from dying, none of this would happen.” 

Winston scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know if I can do that…”

Lena moved towards him and put her hands on his arms. “Please, Winston. I failed with Mondatta, but maybe we can save people this time. We’ve got to try.” 

He took a deep breath. Slowly, he nodded. “I’ll do my best to figure something out.” Lena cheered. Nobody else did. She was sure they’d come around soon.

She felt hope go through her. They could win this time. They had to.

\--

Lena spent the next few hours hovering over Winston as he worked on modifying various devices in a small laboratory. Really, she had no idea what any of it was, or what the calculations on the board meant. Winston was too smart for her, she supposed. He had asked her (as politely as he could, bless his soul) to back off a bit so he could focus, so she now sat in a beanbag chair in the lab, anticipation building within her. This had to work. There was no way she could live with herself if they couldn’t fix what happened.

Eventually, Winston grunted, glaring at a small, circular device. “I can’t make heads or tails of this.” He sighed. “Maybe I’m just not smart enough.”

Lena always wished Winston wouldn’t doubt himself so much. She came over and patted him on the shoulder. “I know you are, Winston. You’re the smartest guy I know!” He smiled at her.

Out of nowhere, a purple flash appeared in front of Lena, and Sombra was suddenly in the room. Both her and Winston jumped. “Maybe you could use some help.”

Lena glared at her. “What are you doing here? If you steal any of this, I’m gonna--”

She shook her head. “Not now,  _ idiota _ .” She walked closer to Winston. “I know I’m not the most popular girl around here, but I want to help. I know my way around technology.” She looked at her nails, that infuriating smug smirk on her face. 

“And why should we trust you?” Winston asked, echoing Lena’s own sentiments. The two both wore a similar glare.

Sombra sighed. “Look. I want to help Gabi, and you’re the only chance I’ve got. I’m not leaving.” Lena really didn’t see how being aggressive towards them was going to help gain their trust, but she never understood her, anyway. 

On the other hand...Winston was having a lot of trouble, and this needed to work. Hundreds of lives were at stake, including two of Lena’s dear friends. She also thought of Dr. Ziegler; who knew how long her trauma would disable her after this? As hard as it was to swallow, they needed Sombra’s help, and it was more important than their own grudges.

“OK.” Lena said. Winston appeared shocked. “If you  _ really  _ want to help, then you can. But if you’re just gonna start trouble, sod off.”    
Sombra chuckled. Ugh, she didn’t want to regret this already. “Knew you’d come around. Didn’t even have to threaten you.” With that, she sat down in the chair next to Winston’s. “Come on, monkey. Let’s get on with it.”

The two worked well into the night. Although Lena was still suspicious that Sombra may have some kind of nefarious intentions, she didn’t seem to cause any trouble while she was working. She and Winston communicated surprisingly well, with Winston doing most of the calculations while Sombra put them into action. If only Sombra weren’t...the way she was, they could make a great team. It was a shame, really.

Lena must have fallen asleep on the beanbag chair, because when she opened her eyes, the next morning had come. She realized how stiff she was when she tried to get up, and nearly fell back down. When she looked over to Winston and Sombra’s workspace, she didn’t see them. Instead, the two stood near the door. Even through his dark skin, the bags under Winston’s eyes were prominent; however, excitement showed in the smile on his face and the twinkle in his eye. 

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty,” Sombra said. Despite her normal collected tone, Lena could see some anticipation in her features as well, as her smile looked a bit more happy and a bit less smug. 

“Did you guys make any progress while I was out?” Lena asked, that spark of hope growing stronger.

Sombra opened her mouth, presumably to make a snarky comment, but Winston quickly interrupted her. “Yes!” He said, nearly shouting. He quickly lifted a circular object up, the perfect size to fit into her chronal accelerator. “With this, you  _ should  _ be able to go back in time and change things. It’ll set everyone back to where they were 12 hours before Morrison died.” He frowned a bit. “The problem is, it’s one-way. You’ve got to get in there, do what you can, then live with the consequences, because there are no do-overs.”

She couldn’t believe it. “Wicked! So we can really fix everything?!” Lena moved to grab the object out of Winston’s hand, then stopped herself for fear of breaking it somehow. She scratched the back of her head.

Others must have been anticipating this just as much as she was, as McCree and Ana walked into the room, moving towards them. “Any news?” Ana asked.

Lena nodded, the speed of her movements increasing as she became more and more excited. “We did it! We can save everyone!” She cheered.

“I hope so.” Winston said, not sounding entirely convinced. “Once you go back, the present we’re in now will be erased forever. You’re stuck with whatever you create. We really only have one shot, Lena,” he cautioned. “Nobody will remember this at all except you. So, I got you this.” He handed her a flashdrive. “This has the security camera data for the room Dr. Ziegler was in. If you absolutely have to tell someone what could happen, you can use this so they’ll believe you.”

As she looked around her, she saw a very subtle smile from Ana. Everyone here had something invested in whether she succeeded, didn’t they? Lena nodded at her. “I’ll save him, Cap. Promise.” No way was she going to let Ana lose her best friend again. 

Ana didn’t say anything for a moment. Then, she did something that caught Lena off guard: Ana pulled her in and hugged her tight. “Get him home safe,  _ ḥabībti. _ ” Lena held onto her. As she pulled away, she gave Ana a smile.

“Hey. Princess.” Lena looked behind her to see Sombra staring at her. She looked...surprisingly vulnerable. Her smug smirk was nowhere to be found. For once. “Make sure you save Gabi too, OK? I know he didn’t make the best decisions, but…”

Lena stopped her. “I’ve learned that you have to find the good in people. And I know there’s good in him. He wouldn’t care so much about Jack if there wasn’t, right?” She smiled at her, and for a moment, Sombra seemed genuinely caught off-guard. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll make sure they’re both fine.” Lena looked up at the ceiling. “You know, it’s sad that no one except me is gonna remember that there’s good in you, too.” 

Sombra snickered. “Trust me, it’s only this once. Nobody will believe you if you tell them.”

“Then I’ll just make sure to always remember!” Lena laughed. Maybe in some other universe, she and Sombra could’ve been friends. She looked over at Winston. “I’m ready, Winston.”

He stared at her. “What, you mean now?” 

“No time like the present, right?” She couldn’t wait a second longer. Every moment they were there was just more time that people were suffering. If there was anything she could possibly do, she wanted to do it immediately. 

“But I haven’t told you about how to--” He started.

Sombra put her hand on his shoulder. “Monkey. She’s not gonna listen to that. Even I thought that was boring, and I helped you create it.” Despite everything, everyone in the room (except Winston) laughed. So she wasn’t the only one that had a bit of hope still left in her, was she?

Winston grumbled a bit, then moved towards Lena with the device. He attached it to the chronal accelerator. Her holo pad lit up with directions to the safe house Ana had said Jack was staying in before he died. “When you’re ready, flip the switch.” He pointed to a small “ON-OFF” switch in the middle of the circle.

“Happy trails, Lena. We believe in you, little lady.” McCree grinned at her. She tried not to tear up.  _ I love you, everyone.  _ She hoped desperately that she didn’t make a mistake that got any of them hurt.

She took a deep breath, then waved at all of them. “Be right back!” As she heard the others say various goodbyes, she flipped the switch to “ON”, and was gone in a flash.

She wouldn’t fail this time. No matter what she had to do. 


	6. A Second Chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a shorter chapter, but I thought this was a good place to stop for the moment.

A split second later, she regained awareness in her room in the base. She looked around for a moment. Did it work? Opening her phone, she saw the date was 4 days earlier than it had been when she flipped the switch, at about 12:30PM. Yes, it did.

She opened the navigation system on her holo pad, which told her that the safe house was about 50 miles due northwest. Checking her pockets, she saw that she still had the flash drive with the camera footage on it. That was all she needed. 12 hours to find this house and save everyone.

Bring it on.

The prospect of walking 50 miles was just a bit daunting, and it wasn’t reasonable to fly the helicopter such a short distance, either, so she took McCree’s keys and drove his car. Maybe he wouldn’t appreciate that, but it was for a good cause, right? The radio was tuned to some country station that sounded like a parody of itself. She elected to turn off the radio entirely. It would help her think, anyway.

Now, she needed a plan of action. She really should’ve tried to find out more about how Jack was killed, actually. Angela had told them it was extreme blunt force trauma. Based on Gabriel’s actions, it obviously had something to do with Talon, but how did they get to him? Did they go to his safe house directly, or did he go somewhere else? Thinking about the uncertainty of this just made her anxious, so she decided to focus on getting to the safe house for now. Maybe she’d find more clues there.

It only took about an hour to get to Jack’s safe house. The roads near this relatively small city weren’t particularly well-traveled, so traffic was light. Lucky for her. She didn’t want to waste even a second.

She wasn’t sure how to talk to Jack about this. Walking up to him and telling him ‘hiya, I’m from the future and you’re going to die’ wasn’t going to work very well. There was always the option of showing him the footage of the room Gabriel had used. That might work. She just had to have faith that he would believe her.

Not sure of how else to start this conversation, she knocked on his door. There was no answer for a few moments, and she wondered if he had gone somewhere else. Finally, though, the door opened. He seemed surprised to see her, although it was harder to tell with his visor on.

“Oh. Hey. What are you doing here?” He asked.

“I need to talk to you about something,” she started. “Can I come in?”

Luckily, Jack let her in. It was nice to have his trust. She knew he didn’t give that out easily.

Lena sat down on the couch, while Jack sat in a chair nearby. Considering the vigilante work Jack was probably here for, the house was surprisingly quaint. For the most part, it looked like a regular townhouse, with couches, chairs, and a coffee table in the middle of the room. What caught her attention was a picture on the wall behind her - one of Jack, Ana, and Gabriel. That reminded her of how close the three of them were, and only increased her resolve. 

“So…” She didn’t really know where to start. “Please believe me when I say this: I’m from the future.”

Luckily, he didn’t seem too caught off guard by that. “Oh yeah, you do that time travel shit, right?” OK, good start.

She nodded. “I need to warn you about something. If I can’t make you change what you’ll do, something terrible is going to happen. You’ll die tonight. I know, it sounds weird--”

“Nah, it doesn’t really,” he said. Wait. Really? “What I do is pretty dangerous. Wouldn’t surprise me if I die sometime.” This was going so much better than she thought it would already. A renewed hope filled her.

“That’s not all, though. After you die” -- she remembered just in time that she wasn’t supposed to know who Reaper was -- “Reaper will get really mad. He’s gonna kill everyone he thinks hurt you.”

He recoiled just a bit, but the shock seemed to wear off quickly, much more than she expected. “Sounds like him.” He paused for a moment. “Don’t mean to be a dick, but that doesn’t sound that bad. Those Talon fuckers deserve it, really.”

“It won’t just be Talon, though,” she responded. “He’ll bomb a UN building and kill so many people. Please believe me, love. A lot of lives are at stake.”

To Lena’s surprise, Jack got up. “Bullshit. He wouldn’t do that.” Well, she knew this had been going too well. 

“Ana and McCree said he would for you. They said he loves you enough to do something like that.” 

“What?” He paused for a moment, turning his head away. “Jesse’s always exaggerated everything. Ana…” He trailed off, then shook his head. “You must’ve gotten the wrong guy.”

“No, I promise.” OK, it was time to pull out her evidence. She pulled out the flashdrive. “I’ve got video. Watch this. Please.”

“Look, I’m not gonna sit here and listen to you talk shit about Ga-- Reaper.” He rubbed his temples. “Just leave. I’ll just be careful to not get hurt. Would that make you feel better?” Oh no. She didn’t want to leave him now.

“I can’t leave you alone.” She paused, contemplating her options. The video would just piss him off. But maybe she could protect him? 

“I’m not a kid, Lena. Can take care of myself.” He sighed. “You’re really pissing me off now.”

She got up as well, trying not to raise her voice. “Don’t be so stubborn, please! I know he’s your friend--”

“Don’t act like you get us. You don’t. Just go away, or I’ll kick you out myself.” Damn, this was going all wrong. She tried not to start crying.  _ Be strong, Lena. Everyone is counting on you. _

The problem was, if she kept pressing the issue, he might not believe anything she’s said. He might go back to doing exactly what got him killed before. She had gotten him to budge even a little bit. Praying that he was really going to be careful, she started to leave. Her eyes remained on the ground, as disappointment filled her. “Sorry I made you mad. Just...please be careful, alright love?”

He nodded. “I will. Now go.” When she walked out the door, he slammed it behind her. 

_ Don’t lose hope, Lena.  _ She told herself that, but it was hard to truly convince herself.

\--

But Lena wasn’t ready to give up yet. Moping around about her problems wasn’t going to do anything, was it?

Instead, she considered what options she had left. She could always talk to the others at the base about this. But what could they do? They didn’t know any more about the situation than she did. No, there had to be someone else that she get her further.

Then she realized. Reyes. 

How on Earth was she supposed to find him, though? The ‘Reaper’ character of his was all about being in the shadows. It would be like looking for a ghost. As she walked (she could always just blink there, but she was trying to look at least somewhat normal right now) through the seemingly endless sidewalk of the small city and back towards her (well, McCree's) car, she thought it over further, and realized the only lead she had: whatever Talon activities were around. She knew he was somewhere in this area. While she was thinking of this, she walked past several people in a group that caught her eye. 

They looked awfully suspicious - wearing some kind of black costume with red helmets. She immediately recognized them. Those were Talon agents. Smashing.

Using her best stealth (she really wished Genji were here right now), she crept behind the agents and began following them. They were kind of spooky, honestly. The way they only talked to each other in such hushed voices that she couldn’t even hear them clearly and walked with such purpose creeped her out a bit, especially since she knew what they were going to try to do to Jack. Well, they sure as hell weren’t getting away with it this time.

Luckily, the agents didn’t pay much attention to her as they walked through the city. She followed them through several blocks, doing what she could to blend in with the crowd. A few times, they looked behind them, but she managed to blink behind a wall of a building before they could see her each time. As she followed them, she noticed more people wearing the same outfits going in the same direction throughout the city, with the number increasing over time. The Talon presence must have been heavy here, because when she passed a couple police officers, they seemed like they had no intention of apprehending the agents. Probably too afraid.

Eventually, they walked into a building, with the other agents she had seen following suit. She knew there was no way she’d be able to go in there without arousing suspicion, so she stayed just outside of it, hugging a wall. Well, damn.

She stood there, considering her options, when a shadow popped up in front of her. She nearly shouted in surprise, then covered her mouth to keep it from coming out. It was Reyes.

“What are you doing here?” He said, tone accusatory. 

How could she do this? Would he believe her, or would this go just like it did with Jack? She decided to just start with being honest. “I was looking for you. I need your help.” 

He crossed his arms. “I don’t have time for--”

“It’s about Jack.”

He recoiled. “How the fuck do you know about him?” He sounded more bewildered than angry (although there was definitely a bit of anger in there, as if she had done something wrong by mentioning his name). 

“We can talk about that later.” Not worth explaining right now. One of the Talon agents could come out of there at any time and blow her cover. “Can we talk about this somewhere else? Please?”

He seemed to consider it for a moment. “Fine. We’ll talk in the library.” Without another word, he disappeared, hopefully actually going to the library. Evidently, he wasn’t interested in walking with her.

_ You could’ve at least told me where it was.  _ How rude.

Luckily, her phone GPS lead her to the library relatively quickly. At least it was close by. As she entered it, she couldn’t see Reyes, and wondered if he had been lying to her just to throw her off. However, he then spontaneously appeared in front of her, making her jump. Was he just going to always do that?

Without a word, he lead her to a table in a secluded corner of the library. The two of them sat down on opposite sides of it.

“Spit it out. This better be good,” he said, putting his legs on the table. Where were his manners?

She decided to just get to the point. Taking a deep breath, she said, “Doomfist is going to kill Jack.”

He froze. “No. He knows Jack is my job.” His voice had a hint of hesitation in it, though. At least he was being honest with her. 

She would just have to explain the whole thing, wouldn’t she? If Jack didn’t believe her, why would Reyes, who had been acting significantly more unreasonable? Might as well. “I know this sounds weird, but I’m from the future.”

He laughed. “You serious?”

She knew he wasn’t going to be helpful. Then she realized. She still had her trump card. She pulled out the flashdrive and her phone. “Watch this. Please.”

Evidently, she at least had Reyes’ attention, because he pulled closer to her to view the screen. She noticed him freeze at the sight of the room, and once again when he saw himself in it. She fast forwarded the recording until she saw him carrying Angela into a cage. After that part of the recording was over, she kept speeding up the recording until it reached a part where he re-entered the room. That must have been what Angela was talking about when she said he killed Moira, because the recording showed him chaining her up.

As the recording continued, she saw him torturing Moira, and heard Angela’s apologies. She winced a bit. God, this was so horrible to watch. For a moment, she wished that the recording didn’t have sound. But she had to be strong. To help offset how upsetting this was, she paused the recording to talk. “After Doomfist kills Jack, you start doing these things. Dr. Ziegler said you wanted revenge for him. I know that sounds crazy, but--”

“No. It doesn’t. Is there anything else?” At least it wasn’t a complete denial. 

“Yeah.” She kept playing the video. It showed him talking to Angela about killing someone Lena didn’t even know. Evidently, Angela did know him, because she started crying. Then, he mentioned Genji - so he really must have killed him. This was really depressing. Reyes’ masked face didn’t move an inch.

Finally, the recording got to the most important part. In the recording, Reyes paced around the room, talking to Angela.

“Gonna do something terrible, Angela. Do you think I should feel bad?” Angela didn’t respond. “Yeah, I knew you wouldn’t care,” he spat. After that, he seemed to talk only to himself, because his voice was only just loud enough for them to hear. “Those pundits deserve it. Gonna kill them all. You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Jack? I’m so sorry if you don’t. I just have to do this, you know?” He had really lost his mind at that point, hadn’t he?

After that part in the recording, it showed Reyes leaving the room. She kept fast forwarding, but eventually reached the point where they freed Angela, and stopped it there. “What was I talking about?” Reyes asked.

No point in hiding it. She had to be honest, because she wasn’t sure if he was understanding the gravity of the situation. “You’re going to bomb a UN building,” she whispered (she didn’t particularly want anyone else hearing that and reporting them to the police). “I know I sound like a nut, but you have to believe me. So many people are going to die if you don’t. Please.”

He took a deep breath. “It makes sense.” Wait. Is he serious? No way. “What am I supposed to do about it?”

_ You’re so close. Don’t mess up now.  _ “Well, I think if we stop him from killing Jack, none of this will happen. Will you help me do that?” A brief thought crossed her mind that she might have just given him some ideas for future crimes, but she put that aside.

He looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “Fine. But we do it on my terms.” 

She nearly cheered aloud, then stopped herself. You were supposed to be quiet in a library, after all. “Wicked! Do you have any ideas?”

“Do you know how he’s going to kill him?” He seemed to already be planning something. A good strategist indeed. 

“Dr. Ziegler said it was blunt force trauma. He got hit with something so hard that it smashed up his body.” She cringed at the thought, and was very glad she hadn’t seen his injuries. They had sounded awful.

“The fist.” He took his feet off the table. Finally. That was making her kind of uncomfortable. “You ready to do some stealth work?” 

She nodded, trying to seem serious and not too excited. “Thank you. So much. You’re doing something really good for everyone.”

“Tch. I just don’t want to go crazy. Don’t get it twisted.” She knew very well that was a lie. He wouldn’t have lost himself in the first place if he didn’t care. She decided to keep that to herself, for fear of making him mad. This could still be a precarious situation, because he could withdraw his help at any time. 

They still had a lot more to talk about, and there was always the chance this could be a trap, but she decided to believe that she had finally made a breakthrough. She knew she was right to have hope. 


	7. Can't Turn Back Anymore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: The last scene of this chapter is gory and disturbing. Read at your own risk.

After they left the library, Reyes started walking directly towards the building where the Talon agents had gone. “So, do you have a plan, or are we just gonna rush them?” Lena asked. Although she would do that if she had to, it hadn’t ended very well for Jack, had it?

“I know what I’m doing,” he said, sounding irritated that she had even began to question his judgment. Once they were a short distance away from the building, Reyes held out his arm and stopped Lena. “Wait here.”

Without any further detail than that, he used his...smoke thing...to move around the building, quietly enough that she couldn’t hear anything. It was unlikely anyone would notice this if they weren’t specifically looking for it, but it still made her nervous. After he had inspected all sides of it for a few moments, he came back. “There’s an easy entrance on the right side. We’re going there.” She would’ve appreciated if she were asked rather than ordered, but she followed him anyway.

Something occurred to her as they traversed the right side of the outside of the building. “Why don’t you just walk in, anyway? Aren’t you a member?”

He shook his head. “If Akan-- Doomfist didn’t tell me about this ‘plan’ of his, he probably didn’t want me to know about it, and I never told him I was here. I never even knew about this building. Don’t want him to see me any more than you do.” He sure didn’t seem to hesitate in disobeying his boss, did he? 

After they walked a bit, Reyes stopped again. “Hold on.” He turned into smoke again and was gone. A few seconds later, he reappeared. “OK. I need you to listen to me and do exactly what I say.” She nodded. He really was used to bossing people around, huh? “I’m going to teleport into the other side, and you go in through here. It’s unlocked.” He pointed at the window. _ That _was his ‘easy entrance’? “You got that?”

She nodded. “Aye aye.”

“Ugh, don’t do that.” Wow, what a sourpuss. “Now, I need you to scope out every bit of information you can get on this side of the building, while I do the same on the other side. Try and find out what their plan is. I’ll meet you back at the library when I can. And if you think for even a second that you’re going to get caught, use your time teleport thing to get out, and don’t go back in. Understand?” 

“You got it.” She gave him a salute. Seemingly satisfied, he faded into black smoke and was gone.

Now, how in the world was she going to get in there?

She started to lift the window, a rectangle of tinted glass large enough to fit her body. Being small had its advantages. The room she entered was, luckily, free of Talon agents. The chairs around the conference table were empty. So Reyes did know what he was doing. Of course, it was still possible that all of this could be a trap, and that she could end up killed for having faith in him. But she wanted to believe. He clearly cared about Jack (maybe even a bit too much). He would want to save him just as much as she would. She was sure of it.

Unfortunately, getting out of the room may actually have been more difficult than getting into it. Through a small inside window on the door, she saw a hallway with several Talon personnel in it. She lowered herself closer to the floor so they wouldn’t spot her; then, she put her ear close to the door. Hopefully, it would be thin enough for her to hear them talking outside. Maybe they would say something helpful.

She couldn’t hear very well, but she managed to make out the phrase “boss is upstairs.” That probably meant Doomfist was here. She needed to check this out herself. That was probably risky, but so was being here at all, right?

OK, think on your feet. She waited until the coast was clear, using the window on the door to see when the agents left, then opened the door just enough to get a better view. Inspecting the hallway, she saw that the walls were all completely black, with no details in the room other than the many doors. As she looked around, she spotted the stairway on the far side of the hall. Bingo.

But how to get there? She had to decide soon, because somebody could come by at any time. The only idea she had time to come up with was blinking across the hall as fast as she could, hopefully before anyone had the chance to see her. Luckily, that seemed to work, as she burst into the stairwell without anyone calling attention to her presence. She carefully angled herself so she could blink up multiple stairs at once, speeding up the process.

Her heart skipped a beat when she heard someone opening the door to the stairwell underneath her. Oh no. Just as they opened the door far enough to be able to see her, she reached the top of the stairs, and ran inside the upper floor. The walls were the same black as the previous one, but it had two doors in it: a large one on the left and a smaller one to the right. There wasn’t much else she could do but enter one of them, because the person in the stairway might come up. She needed cover. She considered recalling, but she couldn’t do that now. Not when she was so close to finding out more. Reyes would probably disapprove, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, right?

She elected to enter the smaller room, mostly at random. She blinked towards it and opened the door as quietly as she could. She managed to exhale a breath she didn’t know she was holding when she went inside: there was nobody in the room. Well, that was terrifying. 

Now, back to investigating. 

Looking around the small room, she saw only two things in it: a door connecting it to the larger room, and a desk with a computer on it. She wasn’t naive enough to think the computer wouldn’t be password protected, but she looked at the area around it anyway, and saw a flash drive. She put that in her pocket. Maybe it would be useful later.

She continued to inspect the entire room, walking around it. As she got closer to the door attached to the larger room, she realized there was someone talking in there. A booming baritone, and a slightly distorted voice, both of which she’d recognize anywhere. Doomfist and Reyes. Had Reyes backstabbed her after all? Crouching as low as she could, she put her head to the door and listened. 

With only the door separating the rooms and not any actual walls, she could make out most of what was being said. “I told you, Akande. He’s my responsibility.” That was definitely Reyes.

“Yes, well, you are not completing your responsibility. I am taking it into my own hands.” If Reyes responded, she didn’t hear it. “You see, Reyes, we are moving into the next phase of our plan. He is a distraction to you, and I will need you to be focused for this.”

“I’m taking care of him. I know what I’m doing.” She sensed an edge of frustration in Reyes’ tone.

“I am your boss, Reyes. I make the final call, and I have decided that you are not fit for this mission. I will assign you elsewhere.” She knew a vague threat when she heard one. What kind of game of chicken was this?

“No. I’m a leader here, too.”

She heard a chuckle from Doomfist that sent a shiver down her spine. “I did not want to do this, but since you will not cooperate, I can get you to Moira. There are things she can do to your body, Reyes. Things you will not like. Will you still resist?”

Alright, she had heard enough. She burst through the door and blinked towards Doomfist, then took out her gun and pistol-whipped him in the head. That knocked him down, but she knew he’d be back up quickly. Turning around, she grabbed Reyes’ hand. “Teleport! Hurry!” He gave a small nod. As he disappeared, she used her recall, and both of them re-appeared just outside of the building. 

Reyes immediately spoke. “We need to get out of here. I have a safe house. Follow me.” With that, he turned to smoke and rushed forward. She used her blink to keep up with him, and they both were across town in only a few minutes. The entire time, she heard commotion behind her, which likely meant Talon forces were chasing them. They kept going until Lena felt as if she was going to collapse. Eventually, they reached a house, one in a location so remote that there were no other buildings nearby. Nobody was around. Hopefully, they’d lost the troops.

Reyes took out a key and opened the house. After they entered, both of them tried to catch their breath. 

When she finally felt a bit less winded, Reyes spoke. “Damn. You saved my ass.” 

She grinned at him. “That’s a hero’s job, right?”

He paused.

“Yeah. I guess it is.”

\--

Eventually, after a little while of neither of them saying anything, Lena sat down on the couch. Really, all she wanted was a nap. Reyes followed her into the living room, sitting on a nearby chair. 

Reyes turned his head away. “I fucked up and blew our cover. That was my fault. Akande caught me snooping around, and I let my feelings get in the way of making up a good excuse.” He punched the chair. “God dammit.”

She smiled. “It’s okay to have feelings, though. You should try it more often.”

“Hmph. Maybe.” He turned his masked face back in her direction. “Gotta say, you’re way tougher than I thought. Never thought I’d see anyone just smack Akande upside the head like that.” 

Aww, shucks. Lena laughed a bit. “Knowing what he wants to do to Jack, it felt pretty good.” 

“Maybe you’re more than just a pest after all.” He chuckled. Was he incapable of not being condescending? She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, did you find anything?”

“Well, I got something.” She pulled the flash drive out of her pocket. “I don’t know what’s even on it, but I found it in the other room on the top floor.”

“Hm. Give me that.” She handed it to Reyes, who turned on his computer. It was a classic model, with a mouse and keyboard. Archaic, really. He entered a password, then put the flash drive in the slot. 

“Wouldn’t there be some kind of protection on that?” She asked.

“Heh. Trust me, that won’t be a problem,” Reyes responded. Lena looked at the screen and saw a huge window of code. What in the world did any of that mean? Reyes grabbed part of his cloak, then started...talking to it? “Hey. Sombra. Need you to get the files out of this flash drive.” He read off some of the code on the screen to her.

Evidently, she was willing to help, because the window disappeared, and another page with two files appeared, along with a message that said, “You’re welcome, Gabi.” 

She really was close to Reyes, wasn’t she?

When the message popped up, though, he rushed to cover the screen. Oh yeah, she supposedly didn’t know his real name. Might as well just throw it out there. “I know it’s you, Reyes. Don’t worry about it.” She smiled at him. Hopefully that was a bit reassuring.

He froze for a moment. Finally, he spoke. “Oh. Hiding it is kind of a pain in the ass, anyway.” Being nice works most of the time, she had found.

Reyes moved the mouse and clicked on the first file, titled “_ MEMO _”. It was a text document. 

_ Mr. Ogundimu, _

_ The AI has been finished, finally. If you press the green switch in the control room of Talon HQ, any Omnic that has the file sent to it will be under your complete control. We do have one request to compensate for our assistance, in addition to monetary payment: you must move forward in disposing of Morrison. He broke into one of our facilities several nights ago, destroying several of our power structures and severely injuring two of our agents. He is an imminent threat to us, and we must expedite his termination. _

_ Please submit your monetary compensation within the next 14 days. We look forward to working with you in the future. _  


_ \-- Gabriela Moyano, Technology Chief, LumériCo _

Both Reyes and Lena stared at the screen; Lena’s eyes widened. “That god damn idiot,” Reyes mumbled. 

“What was that about an AI?” Lena asked. Reyes seemed much more concerned about Jack, but she suspected he may be far from the only one in danger.

Confirming what Lena already thought, Reyes said, “He always wanted to start another Crisis. I’d bet this is how he wants to do it.” From how serious Reyes’ tone had become, she felt that this might be the real deal, and Doomfist might actually have a chance to do it this time. “He could make every Omnic in the world attack. This would be even worse than the first one.” 

She looked up at Reyes. They had to stop him, but she knew she couldn’t do it alone. “Reyes, I know you’re on his side, but we can’t let this happen!” She grabbed onto his arms. “Please.”

He sighed. “That hero shit was always more Jack’s thing, but I guess I could try it out just this once. Not like I can really go back to them now.” 

  
“That was kinda my fault, huh?” She said, looking at him sheepishly.

To her surprise, Reyes chuckled. “Never liked that guy anyway. Seeing him get knocked out was kind of satisfying.” He turned back towards the computer. “Let’s see about the other file.”

The other file was also a text document, entitled “_ MEMO 2 - REYES” _. She heard Reyes mumble, “The hell?”

Lena knew this wouldn’t be a pleasant read.

_ To the Inner Council (other than Reyes), _

_ Reyes seems to become less obedient every day. I am almost certain this is due to his feelings regarding Morrison and Amari. Therefore, when I kill Morrison (as planned), this will serve as a test of his commitment to his apparent mission. _

_ If we must, we can torture him into compliance. The best way to do-- _

That was all Lena had the chance to read before she heard a crash behind her. Before she could even turn around, she felt an impact on her head and was knocked unconscious, only having time to see a crowd of Talon units surrounding Reyes.

\--

Gabriel knew he was stuck here. Sure, he could wraith his way out. But that wouldn’t save Lena. If he was going to get out of here, he needed to get her out, too. God damn it, how had he gotten this soft?

All of his sensible side told him to just leave. Let her face whatever consequences come. But his morality, whatever the hell remained of it, insisted that she would stay for him. That was what true loyalty was, wasn’t it?

While he pondered this, he saw the sea of agents part, and Doomfist walk through the center. 

“What do you want?” Gabriel said. He tried to keep his tone as level as possible. This was one hell of a sticky situation, but he had no intention of showing he felt that way.

“My, what a rude way to talk to a friend,” Doomfist responded, a smirk on his face. His desire to punch him came back instantly.

Gabriel ignored whatever he was trying to imply. “Just tell me why you’re here.”

Doomfist gave a low chuckle. “Did you think you would escape after doing that, Reyes?” Not really, but he had been hoping he’d at least have some time to plan his next move. “I am here to punish you for your insubordination. Hopefully, after this punishment, you will see why you should not rebel against me.”

“I’m not your fucking--”

“Quiet.” What right did he have to shush him like a child? Oh god, he was pissed off now. “This one here” -- he pointed to Lena, who still lay on the ground -- “Is she your friend? If so, it would be a shame if something happened to her.”

Gabriel tensed. “Leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with it.” Shit, that was the wrong thing to say, and he knew it immediately after the words left his mouth.

“I will take that as a yes.” Doomfist still had that annoying smirk on his face. “If you want to know how to help her, the way is simple.” One of the Talon agents held up a bonesaw. “Cut off one of your fingers.”

Gabriel laughed. What the hell? “You must be joking.”

Doomfist, however, did not laugh. Wait, was he actually serious? “Do not worry. With your nanotechnology, it will grow back quickly. Probably.” He shrugged. “If you do not like this method, some harm will come to her.” He pointed at Lena. When Gabriel didn’t budge, Doomfist continued. “We may even have to kill Morrison and Amari.” Gabriel froze. 

Based on what Lena had shown him, they had already succeeded in killing Jack once. He knew it was completely possible for them to do it again. And from what he knew about Doomfist, he wasn’t bluffing, either.

“If their deaths are acceptable to you…”

Gabriel stopped him. “I’ll do it.”

A few moments later, after he took off the gloves of his armor, Gabriel had his arm held up and opened his left hand, waiting for them to start cutting. “Get on with it,” he said, trying not to show the amount of dread that was beginning to sink in. He really wasn’t getting out of this, was he?

Doomfist shook his head. “No. You will be doing it yourself.” 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Gabriel spat.

Doomfist merely chuckled in response, then handed the saw to Gabriel. 

He knew there was nothing else he could do. He wracked his brain for ways to get out of this without Jack getting hurt, but there weren't any, were there? If he jumped at Akande and tried to kill him now, the remaining troops would kill Lena, and others in Talon would just pick up his mission. Jack would still be in danger. This was the only way for everyone else to get out. So, he started moving the saw towards the upper part of his palm. He started to shake. _ You can do this. You’ve been through a shit ton of pain before. _His reassurances to himself weren’t working well, as he began to lower the saw onto his hand, feeling the blade brush against his skin.

He thought of Lena. The smile she had given him when he praised her. The moment when she hit Doomfist to help him.

He thought of Ana. Sharing drinks with her, laughing the entire time. The first time she saved his life, in Russia, which was certainly not the last. Fareeha, who would be without a mother if she was gone.

And most painful of all, he thought of Jack. His laugh that lit up any room. When he overheard him gushing to Ana about his favorite things Gabriel did. Hugging him in joy after they both returned from a battle without dying. 

That thought was enough. He took the bonesaw and started to move it across the base of his index finger. Incredible pain surged through him almost instantly, as he saw blood begin to pour out of the wound. It took all of his strength to resist the urge to wraith now, as his nanites destabilized. 

Back and forth. He could get through this. As the saw began to penetrate into the deeper layers of his skin, he couldn’t hold himself back from shouting. The look on Doomfist’s face became even more smug. God, he would make this asshole pay. All he could think of was ways he could annihilate Doomfist the first opportunity he got. Maybe focusing on anger and adrenaline would reduce the pain. God knows he needed something to make it any better.

Not too far away now. Almost halfway there. _ You can do this, Gabriel. _ Blood was spewing out of the finger’s socket, creating a small puddle on the ground that his foot sank into. His eyes were full of tears now, and he felt lightheaded from how heavy his breathing was. As he continued to move back and forth, reaching the innermost layer of his nerves, his finger started to hang downwards. The pain only continued to increase, rushing through his entire body and making him shudder. He reassured himself that once he passed through the end of the nerves, the pain would stop. He directed his head to the side, to avoid getting it into the wound, and threw up. 

As the pain got worse, he couldn’t restrain a scream. No. Don’t...stop…

Despite how hard he was trying to persevere, when his finger came completely off, it became too much for his body and mind to bear. He fell unconscious, head landing right on the floor next to his amputated digit.


	8. Always By Your Side

When Lena woke up, the Talon agents were gone, as if they had never been there at all. Wait. Reyes. She looked towards where he had been when she fell unconscious, and saw that he was laying on the ground, still in the same spot. Oh god, was he dead? 

Considering the fact that she knew he was barely alive to start, she had no idea how to check if he was still there. Improvising, she lowered her head to his chest. Still breathing. Thank god. 

She kneeled down and inspected him for wounds. Nothing appeared too bad -- until she saw his hand. The glove on his left hand had been removed, revealing his grey and brown skin, and one of his fingers was a half-complete stub. As she looked around him, she saw it - an amputated finger laying on the ground, covered in blood. She gasped. 

Judging by the fact that he still had half of the finger even though a complete digit was on the ground, he seemed to have some kind of limb regeneration. She really didn’t want to consider how _ that _worked. 

Not knowing what else to do, she shook him. She was already in tears. How could they do something this awful to him? They needed to be stopped. “Wake up, Reyes! Please.”

Slowly, his eyes started to open. “What do you wa-- Ow! Fuck!” She noticed his masked face instantly turn towards his hand. So he knew, too. Does that mean they did it while he was awake? This was becoming more horrifying by the second.

He paused for a moment. “So. You know.” She nodded. “Was hoping it’d regenerate before you saw it.”

“Does it hurt?” She asked.

“My finger got cut off, of course it fucking hurts,” he snapped. He took a deep breath. “Sorry. Shouldn’t take it out on you.” 

“Is there anything I can do?” It killed her to watch her friend(?) in this much pain.

“No, not really. It’ll probably be back to normal by the end of the day.” Another pause, this time longer than the previous one. She couldn’t think of anything to say. Reyes sighed. “Can you do me a favor?” She nodded. “Don’t tell Jack about this. Please.” 

She didn’t think she’d ever understand how their relationship worked. But she couldn’t deny the request of someone who just suffered that much. “I won’t, love. It can just be between us.” She smiled at him, and wished she could see his reaction behind the mask. “Do you have any bandages here?”

“Yeah. In the kitchen drawer.” He started to get up.

“No.” She shook her head. “Stay there. You need to rest.”

“I’d rather not lay on the floor,” he said with a dry tone. Did he always have to be snarky? 

“Fine. Lay on the couch, then.” Luckily, he didn’t argue - probably didn’t have the energy. She certainly wouldn’t, in his shoes. She helped him get up off the ground (making sure to grab his right hand and not his left), hearing him hiss in pain when his hand moved from the ground. Without a word, she guided him to the couch and helped set him down. She appreciated that he didn’t put up a fight about it.

Satisfied, she walked into the kitchen. It was a smaller one; luckily, it only had one drawer, because his guidance would’ve been quite useless otherwise. After opening it and retrieving the bandages, she came back to the couch, where Reyes had his mask directed at the ceiling. There was nothing to look at up there. Probably contemplating something. 

As he stuck his hand out for her, he said, “Ugh, this part always hurts like a bitch.” 

“I’ll be careful.” Really, she barely had any medical training at all, but bandaging wasn’t out of her league. Hopefully. As she started to wrap the bandage around the stub of his finger, she felt a spasm go through his body, and he started breathing hard. “Sorry, love. Almost done.” After the bandage was completely wrapped around his finger, his breathing started to gradually slow down. 

There was a period of silence. “Hey,” Reyes said. “Do you have your holo pad?” She nodded, and picked it up off a nearby table. “Can you call Jack?”

She smiled at him. “Sure.” Hopefully he’d be a bit more receptive to Reyes than she had been to her.

She and Jack still had a comm link from a mission they’d completed together a long time ago. Luckily, it still worked. She heard Jack’s voice through the other line. “Lena, I already told you--”

“Hey,” Reyes said. Jack’s voice instantly stopped.

“Gabe? What are you doing on Lena’s comm link?” He sounded puzzled. 

“Long story.” Reyes chuckled. “Hey Jack? After all of this is over, do you just wanna retire together?” Lena was starting to feel like a major third wheel right now. 

There was a pause. “Well...yeah. That’d be fucking great. What made you change your mind?”

“Just miss you, is all.” Lena had a feeling it had a lot more to do with the events of the past few hours. 

“Always wanted to move back to the farm. Would you come with me?” Jack didn’t know she could hear them, did he?

“I really don’t want to live in bumfuck nowhere, Jack.” She heard laughing on the other line. 

There was a brief silence. “Are you okay, Gabe?” Jack said in a low voice.

Reyes froze for a moment. “Yeah. Why?”

“I dunno. Just sound kinda beat. Did you get hurt?”

“You’re not my Mom, Jack.” Of course, Lena refused to speak up about how blatantly he avoided that question. Jack laughed, but it sounded half-hearted. 

“I want to see you again,” Jack said; it sounded more like pleading than a casual request.

“...I can be at your safe house in a few hours. Can I bring Lena?” Lena wasn’t sure she really wanted to be the third wheel at Jack’s house, especially since he might still be mad at her, but she wasn’t going to deny someone who had gone through what Reyes had.

“Yeah. Sure.” Well, she was in it now. “Can you put her on the line, actually?” 

When Reyes handed the holo pad to her, she didn’t really know what to say. It felt just a bit awkward, with the failure of their last interaction. “Hey, kid.” Jack sighed. “Sorry for snapping at you. You didn’t deserve that. Still really don’t believe Gabe would do that, but you were just trying to help.”

“You should believe her,” Reyes suddenly spoke.

Jack’s tone quickly lowered. “Gabe, come on. You would never do something like that.”

Reyes sighed. “I know I would. Trust me. And if she was lying, why does she know who we both are?” That familiar feeling of hope hit Lena again. Reyes was willing to stand up for her. 

Jack said nothing for a moment, as if he hadn’t considered that. “Let’s talk about this in person. Need some time to think, anyway.”

Before Lena could object, Reyes said, “See you soon, Jack.” Not wanting to start a fight now, Lena closed the comm link. Maybe if Reyes would back her up, she’d have a chance to convince him.

There was something she was wondering about, though. “So...are you gonna let him see your hand like that?”

Reyes shook his head. “No. I’ll have my glove on. Cover for me if he asks anything, please.” 

She bit her lip. Really, she thought it’d just be better if he told Jack, but she decided to respect his request, because he was clearly dedicated about this. “Alright.” She sat on a chair, staring at the ground. “I think he’d want to help you. Really.”

“That’s the problem. He’d get pissed off and do something stupid. He always does.” Reyes’ tone was exasperated, but she detected a hint of fondness in it, too. 

She would never understand those two.

\--

When they got to Jack’s safe house, Lena could only hope that Jack wasn’t still mad at her. While she was usually optimistic about these things, Jack and Reyes had proved to be _ just a bit _unreasonable about each other recently. Sure, Jack had apologized to her, but he still didn’t seem to believe her. It would be very helpful if he did; keeping him safe was her biggest priority, and she wanted to do anything she could to keep him from doing anything reckless.

Without giving her any chance to prepare, Reyes knocked on the door. Really, she knew he could just his smoke form to slip in without asking, so she appreciated that he was being at least slightly polite.

The door opened. “Hey,” Jack said. “Come in. Both of you.” Good start, right?

The two walked into Jack’s safe house. Reyes sat down on Jack’s couch (without asking if he could). Luckily, Jack didn’t seem to mind, but Lena suspected he would let Reyes get away with just about anything. 

“Can I sit?” She asked. Jack nodded. She sat down on a chair, while Jack sat on another chair nearby, facing Reyes.

Lena opened her mouth to try to convince Jack that she wasn’t wrong about the future, but Reyes spoke before she could. “So,” Reyes started, “You think any more about where we should retire to?” Didn’t they have more important things to talk about right now? She turned her head towards Reyes, hoping he would get the hint, but he didn’t even look back at her.

“I’m sure you want to go back to LA, but that’s too crowded for me,” Jack said.

“You just don’t want anything fun, old man,” Reyes whined.

Jack grunted. “Farming is plenty fun. You just haven’t given it a chance.” Wow, they really already bickered like a married couple.

“OK, cowpoke. I just don’t want to spend all day growing potatoes with you.” Jack opened his mouth. “Not corn, either.” Jack’s mouth closed again.

This was getting ridiculous. “So,” Lena interrupted, “About keeping you from dying…” She glared at Reyes. 

“Oh! Right,” Reyes said, as if he completely forgot about it. “Look, Jack. I watched the video. It’s pretty damning. And I’m telling you, I really can see myself doing that.” 

Jack turned his head away. “You just have bad self-esteem.” 

“Could you not be a stubborn child for five seconds?” Reyes grumbled. Lena rolled her eyes. They weren’t going to get anywhere with this. So, she put the flashdrive into her holo pad, watching the video start playing. When Reyes tugged on Jack’s shirt lightly in the direction of the pad, Jack finally started to look at it.

The video played again, and Lena still cringed at parts of it. It really didn’t get any easier to watch Reyes rake his claws through Moira’s body as Angela cried in the background. Reyes’ expression was unreadable behind the mask, but she could see Jack’s intense glare at the screen. She desperately hoped he wasn’t just going to deny this. 

Eventually, the recording got to the part where Reyes talked about the ‘terrible’ thing he would do. She pleaded to the universe that he wouldn’t get angry and turn it off. Luckily, he didn’t cut it off, and once Reyes finished talking in the recording, she turned it off.

Jack paused. “So. Said you’d ‘kill those pundits’. Are those the UN people?” She nodded. “And that room...always thought something like that existed, but didn’t really want to check.” Reyes turned away. Jack didn’t say anything for a moment. Eventually, he sighed. “Fine. If Gabe really believes you too, I’ll trust you.”

“Yes! Thank you, Jack!” She got up and hugged him. 

He patted her on the back. “Yeah, yeah. Guess I can’t say no to you, kid.” After she let go, he looked at both of them. “So, what are we even gonna do about it?”

“We could try getting him somewhere safe,” Lena suggested.

Reyes shook his head. “If Akande already found my safe house, I’m sure he’ll follow us anywhere.”

“Don’t want to hide like a coward, anyway,” Jack said. “Why don’t we try to fight them off?”

Reyes turned his mask towards Jack. “Do you have a death wish?”

“No, I mean it.” Jack sat up, and Lena could tell he was going to go on one of his motivational speeches. Like the ones he gave as Strike Commander. Nice memories. “Guess I couldn’t beat them on my own, but with all three of us working together, maybe we can.” 

Reyes sighed, but Lena thought he might be onto something. “I can get everyone at the base to help. That means I’ll probably have to reveal your identity, though.” She laughed nervously. It was kind of a tall request, but she’d gotten this far, right? 

Jack paused for a moment. “...If it’ll save everyone, OK, fine.” Lena cheered. “Really can’t say no to you, huh?” He smiled at her.

Reyes didn’t seem too on board with the idea, judging by the way he slouched on the couch. “We need to stop the AI, anyway,” she reminded him. “Why not now?”

“What AI?” Jack tilted his head.

Oh, right. He didn’t know yet. “Doomfist has an AI that could start another Omnic Crisis. We think” -- She made sure to include Reyes, as a reminder that he was in this too -- “it’s the real deal this time.”

Jack froze. “God, that would be horrifying.” He and Reyes had served in the Crisis, hadn’t they? At that moment, Jack turned to Reyes. “You with us, Gabe?”

Reyes gave a resigned sigh. “Looks like I’ve gotta keep you from getting your dumb ass killed again.” 

Jack laughed. “That’s always been your job!” He stared at Reyes for a moment, expression becoming more serious. “Hey, Gabe? Can we talk alone for a minute?” Lena nodded at him, giving her approval. Well, it’d be better than being the third wheel, anyway.

Reyes turned his mask until it was directed right at Jack’s face. “...Yeah. Sure.” 

Taking that as her cue, Lena went into the kitchen and closed the door.

Gotta let them deal with their old man drama in peace, right? 

\--

After Lena left the room, Gabriel prepared for Jack to yell at him. He knew they’d gone too long without a shouting match. “So, Gabe.” Gabriel tried not to look away. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t used to yelling with Jack, but he was getting tired of the fighting, especially now that he was doing this ‘good guy’ shit. “Can you do me a favor?” Jack looked away for a moment, but seemed to focus himself. “If we’re gonna be friends again...can you take off the mask?”

Shit. That request was worse than yelling, especially since Gabriel didn’t think he’d be able to say no. “You don’t want to see me, Jack. I’m a monster.” 

“I don’t care about that, Gabe.” Jack sat down next to him. “Just want the real you back. No matter what you look like.”

Gabriel sighed. He wasn’t getting out of this, was he? He could always just say no, and a part of him really wanted to, but the more dominant part of him was screaming at him to not let his chance with Jack go to waste. And besides, if anyone wouldn’t judge him, it was Jack. “Fine.” Slowly, he started to lift his right hand (his left still hurt like fuck; damn nanites needed to hurry up) to his mask, and removed it. He refused to look in Jack’s direction.

That was, until he felt Jack’s hand touch his cheek. He allowed Jack to brush his hand against the side of his face. His face truly had seen better days; his mouth was elongated and had extra teeth, and cracks were scattered throughout his cheeks and forehead. Besides the red pupils, the rest of his eyes were also a bloodshot red. God, he was a freak.

He waited for Jack to recoil, especially as his finger trailed one of the cracks. Nobody would be able to accept something this hideous. When he finally managed to look at Jack, searching his expression for some kind of mocking, he only saw a warm smile. “Seen worse.” Had he really? Gabriel kind of doubted that.

“You’re just trying to make me feel better. You can tell me the truth.”

Jack looked him right in the eyes. His eyes were one of the things he was most insecure about - what kind of freak has red eyes? “I am, Gabe. Really think you look fine.” When he looked at Jack’s expression, he knew that he was being honest, wasn’t he? Jack could never lie in a remotely convincing way. “Doesn’t matter, anyway. Even if you were the most horrible creature ever, you’re still my Gabe. That’s what matters to me.”

He scoffed. “That was really corny, Jack.” It was hard for him to express how much he appreciated the way Jack really didn’t think he was ugly. This man was something special. That was something Gabriel hadn’t let himself remember for years. 

Jack’s gaze became playful. “The mask looks way dumber than your face, actually.” 

“Excuse you? It is not dumb. It’s cool.” Gabriel crossed his arms. 

Jack laughed, causing Gabriel to huff. Everyone’s a critic. “Really do mean it, though.” He put his hand on Gabriel’s left hand, who recoiled in pain as Jack’s hand brushed near the stub of his finger. Ow. Fuck. It was still bandaged, but that didn’t make touching it hurt any less. Unfortunately, Jack noticed. “Gabe, what’s wrong with your hand?”

Gabriel snatched his hand away. “Nothing.” Yeah, that was kind of fucking doubtful. No way Jack would believe that. “Just hurt myself, is all.” Well, he had gotten hurt. So it wasn’t completely a lie, right?

“Know when you’re lying to me, Gabe.” No, he really didn’t a lot of the time, but Gabriel didn’t say that out loud. “Take off your glove.”

Gabriel covered his left hand with his right. “It’s nothing. Seriously.”

“Bullshit. I know you, and you wouldn’t react like that if it didn’t hurt really bad.” Jack’s gaze was pleading, and had become completely serious. “Please be honest with me, Gabe. If we’re gonna be friends, we need to tell each other the truth.”

Gabriel sighed. Back on his wannabe therapist bullshit. “Fine.” Gabriel started to take off the glove. It hurt like a motherfucker, and he cringed a bit. Eventually, he did manage to get the glove off, showing the bandaged stub of a finger. He had hoped that the bandage would cover it up and make it look less severe, but it was very clear that his finger was much shorter than it should be. Gabriel found himself unable to look at Jack again, as he heard Jack gasp a bit.

“What the hell happened?”

“Got cut off,” he mumbled. It wasn’t the whole truth, but it was at least part of it.

Jack stared at him, dead serious. “Tell me how.”

He couldn’t lie his way out of this, could he? And _ maybe _a part of him felt guilty keeping something like this from Jack when he clearly wanted to help so badly. God damn sentimentality. “Akande did it,” he said, barely above a whisper. Maybe he’d get lucky and Jack hadn’t heard it.

Evidently he had, because Jack stared at him for a moment with wide eyes. Then, his hands balled into fists. “Gonna make that fucker pay.” 

It looked like Jack was about to get up. Oh shit. Was he gonna run off and get himself killed now? “Wait. Don’t do it alone. We can make a plan. I promise we’ll take him down.”

He saw Jack’s posture ease. “Maybe I’ll actually listen to you, just this once.” 

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “What a fucking miracle.” A part of him was grateful that Jack could actually see his facial expressions this way. It made it easier to communicate emotions. Dammit, he had gotten himself attached again, hadn’t he? There went the walls he’d spent years building. That asshole always managed to do that to him.

Suddenly, he felt Jack’s arm wrap around his shoulder. They didn’t say anything else for a little while. All Gabriel did was lean into Jack’s hold. God, he hadn’t felt this comfortable in a long time. There was so much left unsaid, but above all, it was still the two of them against the world, like always.

Maybe things would be okay.


	9. Success?

After spending a little while longer together, Jack and Gabriel joined Lena in the kitchen, with Gabriel having put his mask back on. Jack had no intention of telling her about what they had talked about. Their relationship was too complicated to explain. 

Once they sat down at the table, it was instantly back to business. “We can’t stay here,” Gabriel started, “They’ll find us soon. We need to stay on the move.” If what Gabriel had gone through was any indication, Jack knew any meetup with them would get ugly. “Lena, you need to find backup.” He sighed. “I’m sure they’re not my biggest fans over there, but hopefully they’ll listen to you.” Gabriel sure slipped back into strategist mode easily, didn’t he? It must come to him naturally.

“You got it,” Lena said, giving a salute. 

Gabriel paused for a moment, and Jack prepared for him to put her down somehow, but he didn’t. “Good. You should go now. We don’t have any time to waste.” 

She nodded, and started to move towards the door. She paused and turned back towards them. “Take care of yourselves, okay?” 

Jack stood up and patted her on the shoulder. “You too, kid. You got my number. Call me if anything goes wrong.” She smiled at him, with a confidence in herself that Jack wished he still had.

He really hoped she would be alright.

After a moment, Lena opened the door and left; with her blink, she was out of sight almost immediately. 

Jack turned towards Gabriel. “So, just you and me.”

“Don’t make it weird, Jack.” The truth was, though, it  _ was  _ weird. His entire past day had been weird.

Without being asked, Gabriel took his mask off, catching Jack off guard. 

“I know my face is gross, but jumping away from me is a bit much,” Gabriel grumbled.

“That’s not it. Just...didn’t expect you to trust me like that, I guess,” Jack said.

“What did I just say about making it weird?” Despite those words, though, Gabriel grinned at him. It was so nice to be able to see his actual facial expressions. It made it even a tiny bit easier to tell what he was feeling. That mask felt like a barrier between any communication they could have.

Jack sat down in the chair next to Gabriel. “So, you got any other plans?”

“Getting out of here would be a start.”

“Wow, the master strategist at work.” Jack nudged Gabriel’s shoulder, who rolled his eyes. “Where should we go?” Planning was always Gabriel’s job, and Jack knew whatever idea he thought of would be shot down quickly. They didn’t have time to argue.

“Not sure. We should just keep driving. Gotta stay on the move.” Gabriel got up from his chair.

Jack thought about that statement for a moment. “Wait. With what car?”

Gabriel looked back at him as he opened the door. “The one I’m going to steal.” 

Jack sighed. “Shouldn’t have asked.” He could detect a small smile forming on Gabriel’s elongated mouth. It was out of sight soon afterwards, though, because he put his mask back on. Still not ready to be seen outside without it, Jack supposed.

Apparently Gabriel was better at hotwiring cars than Jack had known. That sure as hell wasn’t something Jack had taught him. What had Blackwatch even been doing? “You just gonna stare at me, or are you gonna get in?” Gabriel had opened the side door for him. 

“Can you drive with that?” Jack gestured towards Gabriel’s left hand.

Gabriel nodded. “Almost grown back completely now. It’s fine.” Well, nice to see he had his confidence back. Even though he wasn’t entirely convinced, he knew an argument wouldn’t get him anywhere right now, so he got in the car without saying anything else.

Jack still had no idea whose car this was; it was just one that was in a nearby parking lot. Whatever it was, it smelled like tuna fish, and there were stains all over it. Whatever. Beggars can’t be choosers, he thought. It still ran properly.

Not seeing any reason why he shouldn’t, Jack turned on the radio. It was set to the oldies station. Ah, the classics.

“Ugh, I almost forgot your music taste,” Gabriel groaned. 

Despite his protests, Gabriel hadn’t made any effort to turn it off. “Know you don’t really hate it that much,” Jack said, grinning at him. “You just always want to bitch about everything.”

“Trust me, I really do.” Jack noticed that Gabriel didn’t have his weird voice modulator on right now. He had missed Gabriel’s real voice. Even if it was saying rude things. 

They were silent for a moment. Jack stared out the window, taking in the sights of the streets at night. However, he stopped when he heard Gabriel mumbling something.

“So it’s gonna be forever...or it’s gonna go down in flames…”

“Ha!” Jack shouted. “You’re singing along.” 

Gabriel seemed caught off guard. “Am not. You’re hearing things, old man.”

“Mhm. Sure.” Jack leaned back in his seat, feeling himself unwind. This type of banter with Gabriel felt so familiar, even though he’d been deprived of it for years. Only Gabriel could so easily give him this relaxed feeling.

This feeling of relaxation was short-lived, however, as a nearby car rammed into the side of their vehicle.

“Fuck!” Gabriel shouted, as their car skid across the road. Small pieces of glass and metal flew into the car as Jack’s window smashed. Jack looked around for something to grab onto, and realized something: he had grabbed Gabriel’s (non-injured) hand. He hoped that Gabriel didn’t notice in the commotion. He was caught off-guard when he felt Gabriel’s hand squeeze his tighter.

Luckily, Gabriel managed to get control of the car, and get it back onto the road.

“You think they found us?” Jack said.

“No fucking shit!” Jack didn’t like the way Gabriel’s stance changed. He looked prepared to do something dangerous.

It quickly became evident what that dangerous thing would be: he rammed the other car back, harder than it had done to theirs. The car flew completely off the road and crashed into a tree. Jack tried not to look in that direction, because there was little chance that those people didn’t receive gruesome injuries. 

Unfortunately, it seemed that their car wasn’t going to survive this, because it started to slow down and make unpleasant squealing noises. There didn’t seem to be any other cars that would attack them. For now. Gabriel stopped the car on the side of the road. He shook his head. “It’s totaled.” 

“What do we do now?” Jack asked.

Gabriel paused. “We go on foot. Unless you’re getting too slow, old man.” Normally, Jack would get pissed off at that, but after what had just happened in the car, he knew Gabriel wasn’t as much of a dick as he tried to present himself as. Just a front for his damn pride. Instead, he rolled his eyes.

Jack had no idea where they were going. It seemed Gabriel did, because he started walking westward. Not knowing what else to do, Jack followed him.

It seemed like he was always following people who actually knew what they were doing today.

\--

Lena wasn’t sure how she’d get back to the Gibraltar base. Blinking wouldn’t get her that far. Maybe she could call a cab? She checked her holo pad to look for drivers nearby. Looking at the corner, she saw the time. She froze.

This was near the time of Jack’s death.

Oh God, and she had left them alone. What kind of hero was she? 

Backup would have to wait. She ran back to the safe house to warn Jack and Reyes.

When she got there, though, both of them were gone. Damn. What could she do? How would she find them? She searched her holo pad for leads. Maybe it’d be best to look for where Talon was now? Looking through various news sources, she found a report of Talon agents gathering in a small city, not too far away from where she was. It was a start, right?

When she got back to where she had parked McCree’s car, miraculously, it was still there. Nobody seemed to have tampered with it. She opened the door, started the car, and put the location of the mentioned city in her GPS. 

After driving for a relatively short amount of time, she reached the city. It wasn’t that much different than the one she had already been in. So quaint. This atmosphere was quickly broken, though, when she saw a crowd of people similar to the Talon agents she had seen in the last city. Well, her lead was at least correct.

There were a lot of them. If there was any way they could overwhelm Jack, it would be with this force. 

This might be what decided the fate of everyone.

\--

OK, maybe Gabriel had been right: Jack couldn’t walk  _ quite  _ as far as he was when he was younger. 

He’d be damned if he told Gabriel that, though. 

Jack was panting by the time they reached the next city, and nearly fell over.

Gabriel looked at him and sighed. “What am I gonna do with you?” Jack glared at him. Gabriel laughed. “I’m just giving you shit. You’re fine. Let’s find a place to rest.” Wow, Gabriel was actually being reasonable. Maybe he was getting somewhere.

After they walked for a bit, Jack had quickly caught his breath. Enhancements were a lifesaver sometimes. When Jack looked forward, he saw something: a crowd of people with the Talon logo on various parts of their body. He nudged Gabriel and pointed to it.

“Shit,” Gabriel mumbled. “We should turn the other way.”

At that moment, though, Jack saw something in the distance: Doomfist. 

That fucker who had tortured Gabriel. He was going to pay. Jack couldn’t hold back now. This was his chance to take the asshole down.

“Gabe, that’s Doomfist over there,” he said, pointing.

Gabriel seemed to understand what he was saying almost instantly. “Jack, don’t you dare.” But his warning went on deaf ears; Jack was already barely able to hear it, because he had started running in Doomfist’s direction.

“Jack!”

Not having any easier way, Jack dashed directly into the crowd of Talon agents. They all seemed caught off-guard; that made it easy for Jack to beat them around, and they were all incapacitated in only a few moments.

He turned in Doomfist’s direction, and started rushing towards him. When he did, though, he felt a sharp pain in his right side, then an almost identical one in his left. He looked to the side and saw a massive man, who grabbed him by his right arm; another man grabbed him by his left.

Why did he feel deja vu right now?

“Well, Morrison, I was going to come up with a trap for you, but it appears you played right into my hands. Thank you, sincerely.” When Doomfist turned around, Jack saw that he had that smug smirk on his face that made Jack’s blood boil every time he saw it.

Jack spat on the ground in front of Doomfist. Just as his arms were starting to break free of the two men, he saw Doomfist pulling backwards for a punch. If what Lena and Gabriel had said was any indication, this could be the end for him.

However, at that moment, a shape emerged out of seemingly nowhere and knocked Doomfist over from behind. As Doomfist fell, Jack saw Lena, who winked at him. “Didn’t think I’d let you get yourself killed again, did you?” 

Jack gave her a smile. But he could thank her later; right now, he had something more urgent. The two massive men seemed to be distracted; using this time, Jack elbowed one in the stomach, knocking him backwards and releasing Jack’s right arm. He used that right arm to punch the other man in the head, freeing himself completely. 

In an instant, Jack picked his gun back up and turned to Doomfist. However, Doomfist punched forward, using the momentum of his fist to rush away from the area. 

Jack wasn’t going to give in that easily. He sprung to his feet and gave chase, racing across town. When he had nearly caught up to Doomfist, though, a helicopter came down; Doomfist climbed into it and waved at Jack. Although Jack tried to jump after it, it was high enough by the time that he got there that he couldn’t reach it.

“Coward!” Jack shouted. Unfortunately, Doomfist seemed to value his life more than his pride, because he made no effort to come back down and challenge Jack. The helicopter flew across the horizon until it was out of sight entirely. Fuck.

Lena managed to catch up with him then, Gabriel in tow. When he got close enough, Gabriel swung at him, and Jack only barely dodged it.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Gabriel yelled. “You almost got your dumb ass killed!” 

He wanted to yell in return. Fight back, tell him off. But...Jack couldn’t really defend himself this time. He  _ had  _ almost gotten himself killed, even knowing the consequences it would have for everyone. Jack hung his head. “Sorry. Just wanted to get him back for what he did to you.” 

Gabriel was silent for a moment, and his mask was pointed towards the ground. Eventually, he surprised Jack by grabbing onto him and holding him tight. “Please don’t do that again. I can’t lose you now.” From the sound of his voice, Jack could tell that he was crying. 

Jack smiled at him, rubbing his hands down Gabriel’s back. “You won’t,” he whispered in Gabriel’s ear. “I promise.” 

They held each other until Gabriel’s breathing evened out, and Jack internally thanked Lena for letting them have their moment. They probably looked so strange right now.

“I’ll be here for you for as long as you need me, Gabriel,” Jack said as they pulled away. 

He heard Gabriel chuckle. “You’re such a sap, Jack.” 

“Maybe. But I know you are too. Know you better than anyone,” Jack said.

Jack had made it out alive. But more than that, with Gabriel back at his side, he  _ felt  _ alive. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not dead! just had a lot of writer's block on this chapter. thanks for reading!


	10. Old Habits

The three of them walked as far away as possible from where the Talon agents had gathered. They would be getting up soon, and having to beat them up a second time would be really inconvenient. 

“So...was that when he was supposed to die?” Gabriel asked Lena.

She nodded, a big smile on her face. “Yeah. We did it. We saved everyone!” 

Although it brought Jack a bit of joy to see Lena so happy, he wasn’t entirely convinced that everyone was really saved. There was something else that was still bugging him. “But wait. What about that AI they had?” 

“There’s still nothing stopping him from activating it,” Gabriel said. “And if he does, a whole lot more people are going to die than some UN members.” Lena seemed to deflate a bit. Jack had learned the hard way that her kind of optimism wasn’t always the best response to any situation.

But...maybe it was the right response to this one.

“So we didn’t save everyone after all,” Lena said, looking disappointed.

“No,” Jack started, “But maybe we can.” 

Gabriel groaned. “I don’t like where this is going.”

Jack ignored him. “How about we break into their base and destroy the AI?” 

“Are you insane?” Gabriel said, stopping dead in his tracks. “You already almost died once. Do you want to make sure you succeed this time?”

The realistic side of Jack knew that Gabriel was right. This would be incredibly dangerous. But this was their chance to save everyone. Changing the past seemed impossible, but they managed that. Maybe they could manage this, too. He grabbed onto Gabriel’s shoulders. “Gabe. This is the only way, and we need your help. Please?”

Lena turned towards Gabriel as well. “We have to. Everyone is counting on us!”

“Ugh.” Gabriel put his head in his hands. “Now both of you are giving me your puppy dog eyes. You know I can’t resist that, you asshole.” (He absolutely was aware of that). “Fine. I’ll go with you on your suicide mission. At least I can _ try _to keep you from dying.”

Lena cheered, and pulled Gabriel into a hug. “Thank you! You’re the best.” Gabriel turned his head sharply towards Jack, as if to say ‘don’t you dare’, but it was too late; Jack had already wrapped his arms around both of them and squeezed them tight. Both he and Lena laughed, while Gabriel sighed.

Thinking he had put his friend through enough, Jack let go, and Lena followed. “You going to Gibraltar, Lena?” Lena nodded.

“You sure they won’t just lock my ass up when you tell them who I am?” Gabriel said. 

“I’ll vouch for you,” Lena put in. “I know you’re a good guy. And trust me, I know how to butter Winston up.” She winked. 

Gabriel scoffed, crossing his arms. “So I really am one of the good guys now, huh?” Jack rolled his eyes. Did he really still care about his stupid image?

“Yep. You’re stuck with it forever now. Even if you’re grumpy all the time, I won’t forget that you do the right thing sometimes,” she said.

“Thanks for saving my ass, by the way,” Jack said to Lena. 

She smiled at him. “It was nothing. We all need help sometimes, right?” 

Jack nodded, looking towards Gabriel. “Yeah. We do.” 

And so, the group walked back to Lena’s car. On the way, Jack couldn’t stop himself from looking at Gabriel, a warm affection in his chest. It was so nice to have his friend back. Even if everything wasn’t the same as it used to be, he could feel confident that Gabriel was by his side again. 

Lena was, as always, faster than either of them. Within ten minutes, she was far enough ahead that she wouldn’t hear them if they talked at normal volume. Jack could still see her, but it did give him a bit of time to talk to Gabriel. When he turned back towards Gabriel, he noticed his mask was pointed at the ground. Jack nudged him to get his attention. “You brooding again?”

Gabriel said nothing for a few moments. Just when Jack was wondering if he was being ignored completely, Gabriel said, “Why did you forgive me so easily?”

“Cause you’re my Gabe. Always knew you were still in there somewhere, even when you were being an asshole.” The answer was obvious to him. It was surprising to him that Gabriel hadn’t figured that out already.

Gabriel sighed, head turning away. “I don’t deserve it, Jack. I’ve done terrible things.”

Jack had thought about this as well. But in the end, who cares? Morality wasn’t as important to him as Gabriel was. “Maybe you don’t. Doesn’t matter to me. Not giving you up over some stupid grudge.”

Gabriel looked back at him. That mask really looked so silly now that he had gotten a solid look at Gabriel’s current face. “You’re a piece of work, you know that?” Jack laughed at that. Maybe he was.

After the two continued to walk for a little while, Jack heard Gabriel speak again, just barely audible. “Sorry again. For hurting you. You didn’t deserve that.”

“I’m sorry too. For everything. You had a right to be mad. Just don’t shoot me again, and we’ll be fine.” To Jack’s surprise, that got a laugh out of Gabriel. Finally, making him be a bit less moody for once. “Come on. We should catch up.” He started walking faster, matching Lena’s pace.

“Does she ever do anything at normal speed?” Gabriel said. Jack detected a bit of fondness in his tone. Maybe there was still hope for Gabriel’s social skills.

“Nope. Reminds me of me when I was younger. Wish I still had that spirit.” Lena really was hard to catch up to without running.

Gabriel scoffed. “You don’t have the stamina, old man.” 

By that point, they had managed to catch up. Only super soldiers would be able to do it, if he was honest. “You two at it again?” Lena asked.

“He started it,” Gabriel said.

“I did not!” 

Lena sighed, sounding more exasperated than she really should have to be around men 30 years her senior. “Aren’t you two friends now?”

“We are,” Gabriel said, patting Jack on the shoulder. “You’ll get it when you’re older.”

“I doubt it,” she said, shaking her head. Jack felt a sense of admiration watching those two. They were his team, and damn was he proud of them. Old habits really never die.

Eventually, the three of them got to Lena’s car. “It’ll take a long-ass time to drive to Rome,” Jack said, sighing.

“Already on it.” Gabriel opened his coat and touched a button in it. Instantly, Jack heard the sounds of a helicopter coming towards them. Talon really gave its leaders a hell of a lot of benefits, didn’t they?

“Do your best out there, kid,” Jack said to Lena. There was a part of him that worried about leaving her alone when they had such big targets on their backs.

She nodded. “I will. Don’t let him get in too much trouble!” Jack looked over at Gabriel; the helicopter had already landed, and he was climbing inside.

“Tch. Trust me, I’ve been trying to stop him from doing that for decades.” The two laughed. 

“You coming?” He heard Gabriel shout over the sound of the helicopter. 

Lena opened the door and started to get into the car, waving at Jack and Gabriel. To Jack’s surprise, he saw Gabriel wave back.

As he got into the helicopter with Gabriel, he tried to push aside any doubts he had. Lena was right. This had to work. There was no other choice, and he refused to give up on the world so easily. Even if it had already given up on him. 

When he closed the door, he realized that his hero shit really never left him alone after all.

\--

Once the door was closed, Gabriel immediately took his mask off. It touched Jack that his friend felt comfortable enough around him to do that regularly. Maybe it was sappy, but this was what he’d been fighting for, and he was going to enjoy it, damn it. 

“Why do you keep staring at me like that?” Gabriel asked. He was pretty sure Gabriel knew the answer to that question and was just asking to be disagreeable. 

“Just nice to see you again, I guess,” Jack said. He needed to change the subject, and quickly. No awkward feelings talk right now. “Who the hell is flying this thing, anyway?”

“Autopilot.” Gabriel leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, these things are way more sophisticated than the ones we had.”

Jack crossed his arms. “Don’t compliment the enemy.”

Gabriel’s only response was to snicker at him, clearly happy to have gotten a reaction. Jack rolled his eyes. He knew what this was. Gabriel was trying to push him away. Well, he wasn’t going to get kicked out that easily. 

“So, where are we going?” Jack said. 

“Safe house just outside Rome. Should be hard enough for them to find that we'll have time to make plans, get some rest, then do our suicide mission.”

“You’ve got it all figured out, huh?” Jack grinned at him.

He put his hands behind his head. “_ Somebody’s _gotta do their job around here.” There he goes again. It took a lot of Jack’s strength to ignore that comment.

To distract himself from Gabriel’s misbehavior, he inspected the helicopter. It was a small plane; besides the cockpit that was filled with a ton of buttons he didn’t understand, there was another seat behind them. Everything was computer controlled, with a holo pad in the center telling their current location. Something occurred to him, though. 

“Why didn’t we just use this in the first place, though?” It’d certainly be a lot faster than driving.

“Autopilot makes me nervous. Maybe I’m paranoid.” Probably. “I wanted to save this for a last resort, but _ someone _decided to almost get himself killed. It’s not safe on the ground now.”

OK, he had to call him out on this. This was getting ridiculous. “Could you stop being a dick?”

“_ I’m _being a dick?!” Gabriel stood up from his chair. That should have caught him off guard, but it didn't, really. This had happened many more times than once. Gabriel wouldn't express that he was mad until he suddenly blew up, seemingly out of nowhere. It used to piss him off, but he knew now that Gabriel was just hurt. And he had the right to be, didn't he? “I’m risking everything for you, and you almost throw your fucking life away!”

There it was. “This is our problem, Gabe. You just keep this shit to yourself, and never tell me anything about how you feel. You bottle it up until we just scream at each other. I know you care. Why can’t you just fucking say it?”

His tone turned deadpan. “Well, caring about you didn’t fucking work out so well for me last time.”

Jack was about to tell him how much that statement pissed him off. How shitty what he was implying was. But what would that accomplish? If he kept provoking Gabriel, he might walk out again. And he was not losing him again.

Jack sighed. “Gabe, I’m tired of yelling at you.” Let’s see. What were some of the things Ana had told him might help repair their relationship? She called them ‘conflict resolution’ skills. Gabriel was still not sitting down, and was clearly ready to keep fighting. _ Please, let this work. _“I’m sorry.” God, swallowing his pride like this hurt. Do it for Gabriel. “I know this is hard for you, too.” 

He was so afraid that Gabriel would just think he was bullshitting. However, Gabriel sighed and sat down, coming out of combat stance. “I shouldn’t be an asshole to you. I know you’re trying to help. But you abandoned me, Jack. It’s hard to get over that.” Oh god, this was the most vulnerable he’d been in so long. Maybe this was progress.

Acknowledge how he feels, right? That’s what Ana said. “I know. I’m so sorry. All I want to do is make it right.”

Gabriel didn’t say anything for a moment, just staring at the ground. “I can’t promise we won’t fight anymore, you know.”

Jack knew this. But maybe they could actually get somewhere instead of yelling in circles. This was the best start he’d gotten. “Let’s just take it a day at a time. Deal with that shit when it happens.”

Gabriel scoffed. “You sound like my shrink.” Jack laughed. “You got some of that shit from Ana, didn’t you? I know for a fact you don’t get feelings that good.”

“You’re one to talk,” Jack said. This teasing felt good. Much better than really arguing. “But yeah, I did. She said men can’t do this on their own.”

And then, Jack saw something he’d missed: Gabriel smiled. A real, genuine smile. 

Jack’s enjoyment was interrupted when the plane shook violently. “The hell?” The helicopter abruptly started to slow down, and Jack held onto his seat to keep himself from falling over. 

“Fuck,” Gabriel said. That didn’t sound good. “This is what I was afraid of.” 

“What?” Jack asked while trying to look for a button he may have accidentally pressed. Gabriel was pressing a button repeatedly, but nothing was changing. Jack didn’t know what that button did, but it probably wasn’t supposed to do absolutely nothing.

After pressing the button for a few more moments, each getting progressively more aggressive, Gabriel responded. “Somebody took over our autopilot.” Wait. What? “Shit!” Gabriel punched the wall. 

“Can we get it back?” 

“Give me a minute.” Gabriel started to reach into his cloak again, until something stopped both of them in their tracks: the plane started to nosedive.

Jack was pushed to the back of his seat as the G-force of the plane increased. He held onto the sides of it.

Suddenly, Gabriel stood up (as well as he could with gravity working against him, that is). Holding onto the seat, he grabbed something from the other side of the cockpit, and threw it to Jack. A parachute. “Take this if you don’t want to die!” Gabriel had to shout for Jack to hear him. Afterwards, he tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “Fuck! They thought of everything.” He looked over at Jack, then managed to grab his mask and attach it to his face (Jack had no idea how that thing didn’t just fly off in this wind). “Put that on, because I’m about to do something dangerous.”

“What about you?” Jack shouted.

“There’s only one!” Fuck. “I can’t die, don’t worry about me!” Yeah, it wasn’t exactly that easy. 

“But I--”

“Close your mouth!” Without any further warning, Gabriel kicked the door of the helicopter out (thank God for SEP); both of them were quickly sucked out of it.

As they both fell to the ground, Jack activated his parachute, and tried to keep sight of Gabriel. God, what if he was wrong? What if Gabriel really was going to die this way? Jack didn’t have much time to think about this before he hit the ground, landing in an open field with a waterway nearby. He managed to stick the landing, but it still hurt his legs like hell. On his left, he heard the helicopter smash into the ground with a loud crash; luckily, it landed in the water, meaning it didn’t start a fire. Somebody would have to clean that up, but it sure as hell wouldn’t be him.

He looked over in the direction Gabriel had been falling in, and saw him lying on the ground. Jack ran towards him. No, this can’t be happening. Please, God, no. 

When he reached Gabriel, he looked down at him, already feeling tears in his eyes. However, Gabriel’s eyes were open. “Told you I couldn’t die. Why are you freaking out?” 

Jack reached over to him and hugged him tight. Gabriel winced. Oh yeah, that probably hurt him. Oops. “You risked your life for me. Thank you. So much.” He started to cry into Gabriel’s shoulder.

“And I’d do it again. Now get off, this hurts like a bitch.” Jack let go and wiped a tear from his eye.

“Can you get up?” Jack asked, still sniffling a bit.

“I just fell out of a helicopter. What do you think?” Gabriel shook his head. “Guess we’ll be stuck here for a while.”

“Not if I do this.” Jack picked Gabriel up, carrying him over his shoulder. Gabriel whined for a moment. He probably was in terrible pain. Jack’s stomach twisted with sympathy. 

“Are we really doing this?” Gabriel grumbled.

“Yes. Either this, or you lay on the ground for hours. Your choice,” Jack said. Gabriel mumbled something under his breath, but didn’t argue. 

Sure, they were quite possibly stuck in who knows where, and had lost their helicopter, but Gabriel was alive. That was what mattered.


	11. Development

Through his phone (which he was very lucky hadn’t completely flown out of its case), Jack found that they were in eastern Spain. Wherever they were, there was a town nearby, just large enough that it had a hotel. Neither of them had a safe house in this area, so this would have to do for now. Jack carried Gabriel all the way there. Although Gabriel fussed a bit at first, he seemed to accept his fate after a little while. Or maybe he was just exhausted. Personally, Jack felt like he was going to collapse. That hotel bed would be really fucking nice right now.

They were both very lucky that Jack had money to stay in the hotel, and a fake ID that kept him from getting instantly arrested. He had to sneak Gabriel inside (it would be very easy to recognize him, for obvious reasons, especially since he still refused to take the mask off), but the security of the hotel was rather poor, so he didn’t have much trouble doing so. None of this would hold up under close scrutiny, but this town was clearly not very concerned about world-renowned criminals coming to it. 

When they got into the room, both of them nearly instantly flopped onto their respective beds (Jack was smart enough to buy a room with two beds; they might not be _ that _close yet), and Gabriel took his mask off. “God, that feels good,” Gabriel said. He grinned at Jack. “Gotta say, you’re getting good at this crime thing. I knew you had it in you.”

“Learned from the best,” Jack said. He pulled out his phone. “Gonna call Lena. Ask her what’s going on over there, and tell her about our little incident.” Gabriel nodded. When Lena picked up, Jack put her on speaker.

“Hey, kid. How’s it going over there?” 

“Not that great…” She said, sounding utterly defeated. Uh oh. “They believed me about everything, but most of them said they didn’t want to work with Reyes.”

“Assholes,” he heard Gabriel mumble, hopefully not loud enough for Lena to hear. 

If she did hear it, she ignored it, because she continued. “I was hoping Ana would defend me, but she wasn’t there.” Jack wished she had mentioned that before, because he knew Ana was still in Egypt right now, and could’ve told her that. Damn it, how did he make that kind of oversight? Was he getting soft? “I’m really sorry, guys.”

“It’s fine, kiddo.” It really wasn’t, but he wasn’t going to be the one to break Lena’s spirit. “We’ll just have to prove we’re the good guys on our own.” 

“That’s true! If we win this mission, they’ll have to believe in all of us,” Lena said, peppy tone returning almost immediately. 

“_ If _we don’t get killed,” Gabriel reminded her.

Jack shrugged. “Well, if we’re dead, we won’t care what they think.” 

“Smartass,” Gabriel said. 

“Aw, you just shouldn’t be so negative all the time, Reyes!” Lena said. “If you assume we’ll fail, then we definitely will. We _ all _have to believe.”

Jack gave Gabriel an expectant look. _ Please, please cooperate. _Gabriel sighed. “Fine. If it matters to you that much, I’ll try to have faith.” Lena cheered, and Jack detected a faint smile forming on Gabriel’s face.

“So, where are you guys now? I wanna get to you as quick as I can,” Lena said.

“We have no clue,” Gabriel said.

Jack considered how to say this without scaring Lena too much. “Helicopter got destroyed. Crash landing, but we’re fine.” Well, Gabriel wasn’t fine. He still could barely stand up, but his accelerated healing meant he’d be in working condition in a few hours. Both being composed of nanites and having SEP drugs definitely came in handy in situations like this. 

“_ You’re _fine,” Gabriel said.

“Oh, quit whining,” Jack responded. 

Lena laughed. “You two are funny.” Yeah, really funny until you saw them yelling at each other. “Does your phone say where you are?”

“Yeah. I’ll send you the coordinates.” He may not be good enough with technology to understand a helicopter’s autopilot, but he could at least do that. 

“Got it,” Lena said. “Be there in a flash!” Without warning, she hung up. That girl was a damn whirlwind.

Jack put the phone away. “What do we do now, strategist?”

Gabriel yawned. “Don’t know about you, but I’m taking a nap. Wake me up when she gets here.” Gabriel closed his eyes and rested his head on the pillows of the hotel bed. Before Jack could even respond, he was already asleep. Poor guy must have been exhausted.

Jack smiled. Gabriel looked so peaceful like this. As if all of his (many) troubles and fears were gone. It was refreshing. Jack so desperately wanted him to be this relaxed all the time. Moments like this really did make retirement sound appealing. Just him and Gabriel, being together like this, all of their worries melted away. Maybe this would be his last mission. Jack was exhausted, too, and he was tired of the type of panic he had to feel when he thought Gabriel was going to die in the crash. He just wanted to be sure that Gabriel was both by his side and completely intact.

Within a few moments, he heard soft snoring. Jack picked up his phone and sat on his own bed, content to just enjoy his time with his friend. God, it filled Jack with joy every time he realized he and Gabriel were _ friends _again. 

He spoke, quietly enough to ensure he wouldn’t wake Gabriel. “Sleep well, Gabe. Maybe we’ll be happy soon.” 

\--

About two hours later, Jack received a call from Lena: she was going to try to get someone’s help that wasn’t on base. Whoever that ‘someone’ was, Jack tried to trust her judgment. Although Jack talked as quietly as he could, he saw Gabriel shift a bit in bed after he hung up, although he didn’t actually get up. Damn, must have woken him up. Hopefully he wouldn’t be mad.

Gabriel rubbed his eyes, starting to sit up. “Morning.” Jack looked at the clock. 9:30AM. Well, technically it was morning. “How long was I out?”

“Couple hours,” Jack said. “You feel any better?” Judging by the lack of complaining, he probably did, but Jack thought it’d be polite to check.

“Yeah. Why were you worried?” Gabriel asked. He could _ not _be serious.

“In less than two days you got your finger cut off and fell out of a helicopter,” Jack said, voice completely deadpan. 

Gabriel yawned. As Jack opened the curtains to let some sunlight in, Gabriel shrank away, like some kind of vampire. “We’ve both been through worse. Don’t tell me you really are the dad friend now.” 

“Guilty,” Jack said. Both of them wore a similar grin. “Oh yeah. Got you this from the lobby.” The hotel was nice enough to provide some free breakfast to its guests. Nothing glamorous at all (not like some of those high-end official business ones he’d stayed at during their careers in Overwatch), but at least it was something. He threw Gabriel an apple. Apples were always his favorite fruit. The amount he still remembered about Gabriel was impressive, if he said so himself. When Gabriel caught the apple, he smiled at it. It warmed Jack’s heart a bit.

“You spoil me.” Gabriel took a bite. “Should’ve gotten something for yourself, too. Have you eaten at all today?”

That caught Jack off guard. “Wait, now _ you’re _Dad-ing me?”

Gabriel had that same mischievous smirk on his face that he did on the plane, but it didn’t feel nearly as malicious. “Yep. Now go get ready for your Little League game, Tiger. I’ll try to make it this time.” That got a laugh out of Jack. 

These were the moments it felt like the _ real _Gabriel was back. The one that he could enjoy spending hours with, talking about nothing important. The one he had missed for so many years. He could stay like this forever. That made something occur to him. “Hey. Were you serious about the retirement thing?” Jack hoped that topic wasn’t off limits after their argument. 

Luckily, it didn’t seem to be, because Gabriel didn’t instantly go into a defensive posture. “If you want me to be.” He stretched, basking in the sunlight like a cat.

“I do,” Jack said. “Let’s talk about it once this whole ‘saving the world’ thing is over.”

A brief silence developed. “I missed you,” Gabriel said, barely loud enough to be audible. Jack nearly recoiled in shock. For years, only he had been making statements like that. 

At that moment, it felt like something took over Jack. Like he wasn’t even in control of his actions. Because if he was, he would’ve just sat there and taken that in for a while. And even now, much of his mind was screaming at him to stop. But he ignored it, and rapidly closed the distance between him and Gabriel. He hugged Gabriel, wrapping his arms around Gabriel’s back and pulling him in as close as he could, as if trying to keep him from getting away. “Please don’t leave again. I don’t want to fight anymore. Just stay here. With me.”

Gabriel said nothing at first, and didn’t even seem to react much. Jack was so sure he had overstepped his boundaries, and was already berating himself when Gabriel wrapped his arms around Jack as well, and pushed his face into Jack’s shoulder. Gabriel didn’t really have body heat anymore. His body wasn’t quite _ cold _, but didn’t release any warmth, either. Jack still found comfort in it anyway. After a few moments of Jack trying to take in as much of Gabriel as possible, they pulled away. “Wanna watch a movie? ‘Til they get here, at least.” Gabriel’s request almost sounded...shy. My God, it was like they were kids again. 

“Sure.” Jack started to move to his bed, but noticed that Gabriel opened his mouth to say something, then closed it and looked down at his own bed. Oh. He got the idea, but still felt completely blown away by it. As Gabriel sat down on the left side of his bed, Jack joined him on the right, and they put the TV on. 

The two of them settled on some corny Omnic romance film, neither wanting to admit out loud what the other already knew: their appreciation for bad love stories. Of course, the movie wasn’t really important, anyway; it was mostly just background noise for Jack’s racing mind. He was really laying right next to Gabriel; during their time on the bed, they had both gradually started leaning back further until they were both lying down. And the entire time, Gabriel didn’t fight it, complain, or make fun of him at all. This was already one hell of a day, and it had barely started.

In the comfort of the situation, Jack noticed himself starting to nod off. Damn it, he didn’t want to prove Gabriel’s point about how old he was getting; dozing off with the TV on would be joke material he’d never hear the end of. But he couldn’t help it; a deep feeling of calm started to set in, and it was making it hard to stay awake. He was right where he belonged: by Gabriel’s side. Safe. Comfortable. 

Happy.

Evidently, he did fall asleep, because before he knew it, his phone was going off. When he slowly opened his eyes, he noticed Gabriel next to him, observing him with a smile on his face. When his eyes opened enough to be clearly visible, Gabriel quickly turned his head away. “I saw that,” Jack said. 

“Just answer your phone, old man.” Jack rolled his eyes. Was it really so hard for him to just admit positive feelings every once in a while?

Whatever. He really did need to answer it; the screen said it was Lena. Gabriel could get away...this time. Jack tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes as he accepted the call. “Yeah, kiddo?”

“Hey!” The defeated vibe in her voice was nowhere to be found now. Well, she recovered quickly. “We’re outside.”

“On our way.” He lightly pushed Gabriel. “Time to go.”

“Ugh. Five more hours, please.” Despite his protests, he started to get up, and Jack did the same.

“Thought _ I _was the old man,” Jack said, snickering. 

Gabriel managed to stand up, grumbling a bit. He really was getting up there in age, too. They were both ready for the nursing home at this point. “I’m not old. I’m mature. There’s a difference.”

“If you say so,” Jack said, stretching his back. With both of them (finally) up, Jack turned the TV off, Gabriel put his mask back on, and both of them left the room. He would miss this little hotel. A cute place where he had made some nice memories. With Gabriel. OK, maybe he really _ was _old. He sounded like he was in his 80s. 

As he walked through the hallways, he realized something. “My God, Gabriel. I think we just went on vacation. When was the last time either of us did that?”

Gabriel walked along with him. It was sad to not be able to see his facial expressions anymore. “Probably been at least a damn decade. I know I haven’t relaxed in a long time.” 

“What, killing people isn’t a leisure activity to you?”

“I forgot how much of a little shit you are,” Gabriel grumbled, eliciting a laugh from Jack. “I need to sneak out without getting seen. See you in a minute.” Gabriel became smoke almost instantly and was gone, leaving Jack alone with his thoughts.

When Jack stepped into the elevator, he realized something. Being about to charge into danger really was his element. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he thought about fighting side-by-side with his team. He was aware he sounded like he was going through a mid-life crisis, but it was a nice feeling anyway. A fire burned in his veins, feeling as if it was coursing throughout his entire body. Not only was he going into action, but he had _ friends _on his side. Not some lone wolf vigilante shit. If this really was his last mission, it was a thrilling note to end on. Much better than any of the ones he’d tackled in recent years.

After leaving his key at the front desk (avoiding a conversation with the employees as much as possible; he didn’t have time, especially since his fake ID wasn’t incredibly convincing), Jack left the hotel. Lena waved to him, with Gabriel leaning on her car. After a moment, Genji appeared near her, seemingly out of nowhere. Damn young people with their ninja shit.

“Greetings,” Genji said, giving him a small bow. “How have you been, Commander?”

Gabriel turned his mask towards him, and Jack could just _ feel _the smirk on his face. He knew Jack hated being called that. “Yeah, what’s up, Commander?”

“I will leave your ass here if I have to,” Jack said to Gabriel, a threat that both of them knew was completely empty. “Just call me Jack, Genji.”

Genji looked at Gabriel, then back to Jack, as if evaluating them. Another damn mask he had to try to read. Pain in his ass. “You should not be ashamed of your past, Jack. It will only hurt you.”

He really didn’t like how good Genji had become at reading him. Was he that much of an open book? Or did Genji just have some kind of weird monk abilities? Probably both, actually.

Lena gave Jack a big smile, clearly excited for their future prospects. “Let’s get on the plane, everyone. We’ve got a world to save!” Without another word, she dashed off into the car. Shrugging, Gabriel followed, and Genji after him. Jack wondered if there was any tension between them. Jack felt good about the addition to their team, though. 

They could use all the help they could get.

\--

After a short trip in the car, the four reached the plane Lena had taken here. Luckily, it was large enough for the four of them, and just as importantly, had useful strategic equipment. Jack and Gabriel had lost almost all of theirs when the helicopter crashed. It felt strange to have all of their normal amenities after being so isolated, actually.

“Anyway,” Jack started, turning towards Gabriel, “You got a plan?”

Gabriel stared at him for a moment. “Wait. You didn’t even _ try _to strategize before we got here?”

Jack shrugged. “That was always your job.” Gabriel put his head in his hands. 

“Luckily, I’m used to this,” Gabriel said, moving towards the holo pad. Jack suspected Gabriel had already known he would have no plan, and he only pointed it out to be difficult. Although he suspected Lena was used to their relationship by now, he hoped Genji wouldn’t think they hated each other or something. Gabriel typed in some code that Jack didn’t understand, and the Talon headquarters popped up on screen; after pressing some more buttons, an internal map appeared. 

“Cool!” Lena said, trying to look over as much of the map as she could. Gabriel had his arms crossed, as if he was proud of himself. Show off.

Gabriel zoomed in on a small room on the map, one that was small enough to be a closet. “Can’t say for sure where the AI is, but this is the main control room, so it’s probably our best bet. The challenge is how the hell we get there. Ninja boy’s probably gonna be helpful for that, actually.” 

Genji chuckled. “Ninja boy is glad to be of service.” It was nice to see them get along. Maybe Gabriel wasn’t _ always _ difficult with _ everyone _.

Gabriel trailed patterns from the entrances of the building; Jack suspected he was looking for the simplest one. Unfortunately, none of them were short at all. The control room was in the middle of the building, away from any of the outside entrances. Probably intentional. “Me pretending to be on their side is out, considering the helicopter. Think they’re just a bit fed up with me.” God damn was it nice to hear Gabriel say he wasn’t with them. Not that he doubted that, but it was good to make him admit it aloud. “Which means none of us can be seen at all. Can’t speak for Genji, but me, Lena, and Jack have gotta be on the ‘kill on sight’ list.” Jack could’ve pointed out that Gabriel couldn’t die anyway, but decided to let Gabriel continue; it seemed like he was on a roll. 

Lena looked confused, though. “Wait. You can just be smoke, and they can’t hurt you that way, right? You could just teleport in, destroy it, and run away. How could they stop you?”

Gabriel paused for a moment, and Jack noticed his mask was pointed at the ground. “They have other ways of hurting me. Trust me.” 

“Yes,” Genji spoke up, “If you are invincible, they can still hurt those you care for.”

Gabriel whipped his head around. He was probably hoping that nobody would get what he was implying. It was nice that someone could see through his stupid attempts to be mysterious (because Jack sure as hell couldn’t). Lena nodded.

“I know a way we can stop them from retaliating,” Jack said. Might as well try speaking up. At least he had their attention. “Destroy all their resources. Take them down for real.”

Gabriel sighed. “You really just like to suggest the best way to get yourself killed every time, don’t you?”

“Gabe, it’s the only way,” he insisted. “Even if we succeed, they’ll come for us or the people we love afterwards if they still have everything.” Jack gave him a smirk. “You still good with explosives?”

“Now you’re a terrorist, too?” Gabriel paused for a moment. “I really did rub off on you. I’m so proud. My little Jack has grown into a full-blown menace.” Jack laughed, mostly because he genuinely did sound like he was proud of that.

“I don’t know if I like this idea…” Lena said, a slight frown on her face. 

Gabriel didn’t seem too interested in her complaint, but Jack felt a bit guilty leaving her out entirely. She was part of the team, too. “Don’t worry. We’re not just gonna blow up everything and kill everyone.” He shot a glare at Gabriel, just to emphasize that was _ not _the plan. “But they’re the bad guys, Lena, and we gotta defend ourselves.”

Lena shook her head. “Nobody’s all bad, Jack. People could’ve said the same thing about Reyes.” Shit, he really didn’t have a comeback for that one. “If we have to kill that many people, I’ll just feel really guilty.”

“Look, kid,” Gabriel started, and Jack _ desperately _hoped he wouldn’t say anything insensitive. “In this business, sometimes you gotta make the tough decisions.” His voice went quiet. “Even I feel bad about killing people. You just have to block it out of your mind and know for sure that you’re on the right side.” That was...very reasonable of him. Maybe Jack was judging Gabriel too quickly. Truthfully, the way everyone thought of him as a monster may have gotten to Jack a bit, too, and made him a bit more condemning of him than he should be.

When Genji spoke, Jack nearly jumped; he had almost forgotten Genji was even there. He was so quiet. It was like he wasn’t even breathing. “Yes, sacrifices are sometimes necessary to protect what is most important. You may not want that decision to fall on your shoulders, but it has to be made by someone, and anyone else willing to make it may be much less kind than you are.”

She looked down at the floor. “Yeah. You’re right.” Poor kid. Nobody her age should have to face this kind of harsh reality. It was hard for Jack to handle it himself, and he was a good 30 years older. “Can we just try to have as low of a body count as possible?” She gave a nervous smile.

The other three nodded. To Jack’s surprise, Gabriel wrapped his arm around Lena. “Now don’t mope. Brooding is my job.” Lena laughed, and the atmosphere of the room quickly became much more positive. 

That’s right. It always was good to boost your team’s morale, wasn’t it? God, Jack hadn’t thought like a leader in so long. Gabriel had obviously beat him to it. Jack got up from his chair. “You know what? I think we’ll make a good team. Let’s kick some ass.” Lena nodded, a fierce spirit showing in her eyes. 

“I like our team,” Gabriel said, nodding. “We’ve got the brains,” - he pointed to himself - “the stealth,” - he pointed to Genji - “the speed,” - he pointed to Lena - “and the muscles.” He pointed to Jack last. 

Wait…”Hey, why can’t I be the brains?” Jack said.

Gabriel stared at him. “You’re kidding, right?” The other three all laughed; Jack crossed his arms and pouted a bit. Moving over towards Jack, he gave his shoulder a squeeze. “Just fucking with you. You’re not dumb. The only thing you’ve done that a smart person wouldn’t do is trusting me.”

Jack worked his hand upwards until it touched Gabriel’s; although he recoiled a bit, Gabriel eventually reciprocated, and they clasped their hands together. He looked up, and his eyes met the eyeholes of Gabriel’s mask. Jack gave him a little smile, trying to relax him a bit. At that moment, Jack realized that this might be becoming a _ bit _too intimate to share with two other people in the room. 

That gave him an idea. Jack started to tug on Gabriel’s hand a bit, trying to direct him into the back of the plane. Lena was the pilot, so they didn’t really need to be in the cockpit if they didn’t want to. Unfortunately, the plane was rather small. The only really private place was the cargo hold. Jack gestured towards it. Gabriel gave him a small nod.

Jack opened the door, and the two entered the cargo area. There was nothing in here at all. He heard the door close behind him.

After that, Gabriel tore his mask off, grabbed Jack’s back, and kissed him, all in one swift motion.

They didn’t need to say anything; in fact, Jack knew this moment was better without either of them being able to spew any bullshit and ruin it. Jack grabbed the back of Gabriel’s head and pushed his tongue into the other man’s mouth. He could barely breathe, but god, it didn’t even matter when he felt Gabriel push him against the wall and start feeling down his sides. He shuddered a bit. No matter how alive he really was, Gabriel’s mouth was still just as warm as he had always remembered. This was the most human Gabriel had felt to him since this whole ‘Reaper’ shit had even started.

He gripped Gabriel as tightly as he could, pushing their bodies as close together as possible. Both of them were panting at this point, but Jack didn’t care. He just wanted more. Every little bit of this man that he could have. He had already let him go once, and he sure as hell didn’t want to do it again. 

That was why, when their kiss finally ended, Jack still refused to let go of Gabriel’s back. For a moment after the kiss, both of them held onto each other and simply stared into each other’s eyes, panting. Red or not, Jack still loved Gabriel’s eyes, and they looked so much better trained on him. 

“God _ damn, _ I needed that,” Gabriel managed to say. “Who do you think you are, walking around with those full-ass lips? Feels like you’re just trying to tempt me more every time I see them.” Jack chuckled at that. More of a giggle, really. He couldn’t help it. He was so damn _ happy _. 

Jack didn’t say anything else for a little while. He didn’t need to. There was nothing between the two that hadn’t been bared out at that moment. The kind of thing there was no going back from. Both of them lowered themselves onto the floor, not caring about the fact that they were now sitting on the cold-ass ground. “I know what you’re thinking,” Gabriel started, “Not everything’s OK just because we made out. We’ve still got a lot of shit to get over.”

“Yeah, we’re kinda fucked up,” Jack said. No disagreement there. “But it beats punching each other.” 

“It does.” Gabriel leaned to the side and rested his head against Jack’s shoulder.

Jack smiled at him; a less intense emotion than before, but one filled with just as much positivity. “Maybe after all of this is over, we should get couple’s counseling.”

Gabriel looked up at him. “Oh, so we’re a couple now?”

Jack wrapped his arms around Gabriel’s side, who cuddled a bit closer to him. “Yeah. Too late to get away now, sorry.” Pushing Gabriel as close to him as possible, he could smell Gabriel’s scent; even after everything, he still smelled the same. 

“Only if I get to pick where we live.” Jack noticed that, even though Gabriel didn’t have his own body heat, Jack’s had started to spread to him.

“Hm. You drive a hard bargain. Where do you wanna go?” Of course, this was assuming they got out of this alive, but…

Gabriel considered for a moment. “I know I won’t get you to go to LA with me, but how about somewhere in the Cali countryside?” When Jack didn’t respond immediately, he sighed. “Whatever we do, it better not be somewhere cold. Or anywhere fucking near Switzerland. Got enough of that damn place.” 

Jack patted him on the head. “We’ll figure it out later. Wanna go back out there? The others probably wonder where we are by now.”

“Fuck ‘em,” Gabriel said. “Don’t wanna get up. You’re warm.” He maneuvered himself so that as much of his body as possible was touching Jack. 

Jack chuckled. “Fine. Just because I kinda like you.” He leaned down and kissed the top of Gabriel’s head.

“Yeah? Well, you’re OK too. I guess.” Gabriel gave him another one of his little mischievous grins. 

This moment of affection wouldn’t last forever. But damn, did Jack wish it could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think 35,000 words before the first kiss is my new record, actually


	12. A Good Night's Sleep

Jack and Gabriel hadn’t left the cargo hold. Even though it was cold back here, Jack was comfortable just spending time with his...damn, did this mean Gabriel was his boyfriend now?

They didn’t say much, just sitting close to each other. After a little while, a frown formed on face. His typical look when he was thinking hard about something that bothered him, which he had always done far too often.

Ah, fuck it. If they were going to be in a relationship, they should be open with each other. “Something wrong?” Jack asked.

Gabriel sighed, sitting up a bit. “You know, if we’re gonna do this for real, we have to talk some shit out, don’t we?” 

“Probably.” Jack knew that if they didn’t, they would blow up at each other again, and who knows what that could result in? “How about we get whatever we want off our chests now? Might as well get our fight over with.” He chuckled. “What were you thinking about?”

Gabriel looked at the floor. “Just...kind of scared, I guess.” Jack tilted his head to the side. “When you would never listen to me about people destroying Overwatch from inside, I got scared you were one of them. And then you not telling me you were alive...it’s just kind of hard for me to trust you now, I guess. Trying, but it’s scary.”

He looked Gabriel in the eyes, trying to make sure he could tell Jack was sincere. “I know. I’m scared, too.” His voice went quiet, as he felt shame surge through him. How could he not put his full trust in the man he cared so deeply for? “You’ve been acting like a psycho for years, Gabe. Still this little voice in the back of my mind wondering if this is all a trap.” 

“That’s my own fault, I guess.” Gabriel chuckled. “If it makes you feel any better, I sure as hell can’t go back to Talon after this.”

It was reassuring to hear it coming out of Gabriel’s mouth, he supposed. Still, it was easy to just  _ say  _ that. “If you went back to the guys that cut your finger off and made you fall out of a helicopter over me, I’d be pretty offended.”

Gabriel slapped Jack’s side, laughing. “I’m serious!” Jack laughed along with him. He smirked. “Besides, none of them are as hot as you.”

Jack rolled his eyes, trying not to show the fact that every compliment Gabriel gave him still flattered him. “Settle down over there, loverboy.” 

“I see you smiling.” He wrapped his arm around Jack. “You could never resist my charms.” He gave Jack a kiss on the cheek; now  _ that  _ made him blush. Being together again after being apart for so long felt like being young and in love for the first time. It was refreshing; he knew that he missed Gabriel, but didn’t realize  _ how  _ much until he got him back. He had been drowning, and didn’t even know it until he got back to land.

Leaning into Gabriel’s hold, Jack immersed himself in their shared body heat. “Maybe not.” Gabriel rubbed Jack’s head, smiling at him. Just a couple of old men, enjoying what they had gotten back after the world had stolen it from them. 

Eventually, the two of them did have to leave the cargo hold. Mostly because it was cold in there. It was a shame for Gabriel to have to put the mask on and cover that pretty face, but Jack didn’t argue with him about it; he knew Gabriel’s insecurities were far too severe at the moment to show his face to anyone but Jack. On the way to see the others, Jack wrapped his arms around Gabriel from behind, still moving forward.

“Kind of hard to walk with you like this, you know,” Gabriel said.

“Mmmf. Don’t care. You smell nice.” With his head against Gabriel’s skin, he buried his head in Gabriel’s shoulders and took a deep inhale. The smell was so...him. No matter what had happened to his body, he still smelled the same, and that reminded Jack that he was still the same man he loved. 

“What, is that your kink or something?”

Distracted by their discussion, they didn’t even notice that Lena and Genji were standing in front of them. Jack quickly let go, but it was too late.

“Aww!” Lena said, nearly shouting. “Why didn’t you tell me you two were together?”

Jack wasn’t particularly interested in telling her about their escapade in the cargo hold. Talking about that with a kid just felt wrong. “We, uh, just started.”

Genji nodded. “Yes. I have very keen hearing, you know. You certainly sounded like you were enjoying yourself.”

Jack felt his blood flow straight to his cheeks, and he was sure Gabriel was bright red under the mask as well. Busted. 

Genji chuckled, and Jack could just  _ feel  _ the smirk under his mask. “I do not judge. Your relationships are your own choice, after all.”

“Good, because I’d kick your ass if you didn’t,” Gabriel grumbled.

As discreetly as he could, Jack elbowed him. “Behave.” 

“What are you, my dad?”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Sometimes I feel like it.”

“Do they often bicker like this?” Genji asked Lena.

“Yep.” She laughed. “You get used to it. It’s cute! They’re like an old married couple.”

Gabriel glared at her. “Don’t you have a plane to fly?” If she was affected by Gabriel’s rough nature at all, she didn’t show it, because all she did was laugh again. He got the feeling that she enjoyed prodding their friend just as much as Jack did. 

Jack stretched. “How close are we, anyway?” He had the distinct urge to get to a couch and lie down. Ugh, he really was getting old. 

Lena kept her eyes on the dashboard as she responded, “Only a few minutes away, actually.” How the hell did she use those complicated controls and talk at the same time? Maybe she was smarter than people gave her credit for. “So you two lovebirds can have some privacy soon.” She winked.

Gabriel groaned. “I’m never gonna hear the end of this, am I?” 

As the other two laughed, Jack patted Gabriel on the back. “Think of it as karma for the shit you did. We can make fun of you for a while and you can’t punch us.”

“No promises.” 

As the four of them continued their conversation, Jack felt a sense of contentment. There was nothing better than being on a real team again. Knowing he had people that had his back, friends that would pull through for him..

...And having a boyfriend wasn’t too bad, either.

\--

Once they got to the safe house, it was right back to business. They finalized their plan, and decided it would be best to go to bed early and conduct their attack early in the morning.

Gabriel got to sleep next to Jack that night. God, that was great. Jack cuddling up to him (he was always a clingy sleeper), feeling the tension leave his body, kissing him goodnight...every moment was bliss. Not only that, but Gabriel could protect him while they were in this house. One of the benefits of the retirement they were planning was that he could be in the same house as Jack as much as possible. Nobody would be able to hurt him. Never again.

He struggled to fall asleep; he was too nervous for what they would do tomorrow. It was incredibly dangerous. Not only could Jack get hurt, but so could Lena. He had developed an attachment to her, and wanted to protect her too. She was so young, and a bit naive; he shuddered at what Akande could do to her if she was in his custody. 

Not only that, but if anyone got hurt, he felt responsible for it. The entire reason this mission had started was his own inability to control himself in that other timeline. One of the many things he could spend his life beating himself up for, he supposed.

A while after Jack fell asleep (which he could tell because Jack’s snoring sounded like a jet engine), he found himself in Talon headquarters. Their plan must have kicked off already. However, he saw something odd: his Reaper armor was near three other figures. One of them was definitely Akande; he froze when he saw the other two were Jack and Lena, and that the armor seemed to be moving. There was someone inside of it.

Gabriel ran to help them, but there was some invisible wall in the way. As much as he tried, he couldn’t possibly break through it. Whatever was in that Reaper armor stepped on Jack’s stomach, pinning him, and levelled one of his shotguns at Jack’s head. Gabriel desperately rammed into the wall with all of his strength, but it refused to come down. “Jack!”

When he shouted, the armor turned towards him. “Why are you fighting this? I’m you, Gabriel.” Gabriel stepped backward. “I’m just finishing what we started.” 

“No. I wouldn’t do that…” He said, but his voice was weak. Both Akande and Reaper laughed at him. 

“Idiot. You’re about to right now.” Reaper kicked Jack in the stomach, who groaned.

Jack coughed. “Why are you doing this, Gabe?” He said, and Gabriel could tell he was sobbing.

“I’m not!” Gabriel shouted. “That isn’t me! Jack, you have to fight him!” Tears started to stream down his cheeks. “Please…”

It seemed that Jack couldn’t hear him, because he didn’t respond. Reaper chuckled. “Goodbye, Jack. You shouldn’t have trusted me.” As Gabriel tried to punch through the wall again, the shotgun fired, and blood sprayed everywhere. Jack’s body fell over, limp. No.

“You have done well, Reyes,” Akande said, nodding. Reaper wasn’t finished, though; he pointed the gun at Lena and--

Gabriel shot up in bed with a scream. He could tell he had been crying. He put his hand on his chest, trying to catch his breath. Fuck. That probably woke up the entire house.

Looking to his left, he saw Jack quickly get up and instantly hug him. Not able to say anything, Gabriel sobbed into Jack’s shoulder. Jack patted him on the back, holding him tight. “Shh. It’s OK, Gabe,” he whispered into Gabriel’s ear. “Just a dream. Everything’s fine. I’m here.”

“I’m so sorry, Jack,” Gabriel choked out. “You should run away from me. I’m just gonna hurt you. I’m a monster,” he said, barely managing to talk through his own heavy breathing. 

Jack slowly rubbed his hand along Gabriel’s back. “No you aren’t, Gabe. I know you’re not.” Jack kissed Gabriel on the side of his head. That was nice. It was never easy to reassure Gabriel, but being in Jack’s hold was at least doing something.

The door opened suddenly, and Gabriel saw Lena and Genji enter. “Are you guys OK?!” Lena said, in a panicked tone.

Gabriel said nothing. He could barely talk. Thank God Jack took over for him. “Gabe just had a nightmare. We’re fine. Go back to bed,” he said. This man sounded more and more like a father every day. 

Instead of prying, both Lena and Genji nodded, and they left. It was nice to have people that were actually understanding of him. Not something he’d had in a while.

Jack rocked him slowly, as Gabriel’s breathing started to even out. “Let’s go back to sleep, OK?” As if he would be able to get back to sleep after that. “You’re safe. I’m here for you. Everything’s fine.” 

Little did Jack know, him being there just made Gabriel’s fear worse. He couldn’t even trust himself. Why did Jack trust him? He was an idiot for thinking their whirlwind romance would make them able to escape the past.

The two let go of each other, and Jack slowly lowered back onto the bed. Gabriel followed. He couldn’t even keep his eyes closed.

He made a decision. One he knew was cowardly and morally wrong. But he was so afraid. Afraid that he would hurt Jack again, or even kill him. Afraid that his paranoia, his aggressiveness, his past mistakes, or any of his other flaws would lead to Jack dying. It was better this way.

So, as quietly as he could, he put on his mask, wraithed through the window, and left the house. Returning to corporeal form, he started to walk away, not knowing where he was going, until he heard the sound of someone clearing his throat behind him. He looked back, and Genji was standing there.

“Where are you going?” Genji asked him, in his typical level tone.

Gabriel paused, not knowing what to say. He certainly wouldn’t dump all of his insecurities on someone who might not even trust him. “I’m going for a smoke.” Wow, that was the worst lie he’d ever come up with.

“With no cigarettes?” Genji said. That lie worked about as well as he thought it would. “Are you aware of how broken Morrison would be if you left us now?”

Wow. Genji had seen right through him. “Of course I know that. But I don’t care,” he lied. Maybe he’d be safe if he retreated back into his Reaper facade. He should have never let himself be so vulnerable. “I’m not a good person.”

“Hm,” Genji responded. “I do not believe you. If you did not care, you would have left long ago.”

“What do you want?” Gabriel grumbled. Why didn’t he just let him leave in peace? 

Genji shook his head. “Reyes, there is no shame in being afraid.” His ability to see through all of his barriers was both frustrating and a bit creepy. 

“I’m not scared for myself,” Gabriel said, trying not to let his voice shake too much. “I know I’m going to hurt Jack. I don’t want to have the chance. He’s better off without me.”

“Morrison is an adult, is he not?” More like an old man, actually. “He can make his own decisions, and he has decided to have faith in you.” Genji chuckled. “There are very few people that will give chances so willingly.” 

Gabriel stared at the ground, refusing to let Genji look him in the eyes, even through the mask. “That’s why he deserves better than me.”

Genji sighed. “Morrison seems certain that he should forgive you. Now, you must forgive yourself.” Ha. Fat chance. “I understand your view better than you may realize.” He took a deep breath, and felt truly human at that moment. “Over the course of my life, I have killed several members of the Shimada family. I believed they deserved it at the time. After I received help from my master, I felt very guilty for my actions.” They were birds of a feather, Gabriel supposed. “My master showed me that berating myself for my past would ensure that I would never have a positive future.”

“You sound like some kind of inspirational poster,” Gabriel mumbled. 

Genji laughed. “Perhaps.” Gabriel appreciated that he wasn’t instantly offended by that. “If you truly do not want your past to affect your future actions, the only way to ensure that is to understand and accept it. There is no way to make up for those actions if you run away from them.” He paused. “Do you believe Morrison is worth facing that?”

“...Yeah. He is,” Gabriel said. Really, he may be the  _ only  _ one worth that. 

“Then come back.” Genji reached his arm out. This was his final decision. He suspected that if he left now, Genji wouldn’t follow him. He would be safe.

But...he would be safe, but would he be happy?

No.

His only chance to get back at least part of what he had lost - part of what had given his life meaning - was to follow through with this plan. If he could have Jack back, keep him, and protect him, then he would at least have something valuable. Maybe their retirement dream would come true.

He walked towards Genji and shook his hand. Genji nodded at him. Gabriel quickly let go, walking back to the house without looking back. He would stick with this. He had to. To protect Jack.

Maybe it was OK for him to let himself have just this one thing.


	13. No I In Team

By the time Gabriel woke up, it was too late. He had gone back to bed, and actually managed to fall asleep, with the comfort of Jack next to him. He opened his eyes just in time to see the scene in their bedroom a few hours later: a crowd of Talon agents had made their way into the room. Only a few seconds after he regained consciousness, he felt a needle jab into his arm. Immediately, he jerked his head to the side. Jack’s eyes were still closed; he was clearly breathing, but the rise and fall of his chest was slow; he must have been sedated. Gabriel had the feeling that was what was coming for him, too. 

Before he had the chance to test if his wraith form would eliminate the drug from his body, his eyes closed again.

He woke up in a familiar place: Talon headquarters, in one of the labs. He was strapped to a table; one of the operating tables where they performed human experiments. He hated these (for obvious reasons). For some reason, they had attached the mask back to his face. Although he was conscious, he couldn’t move. He tried to wraith, but nothing happened. Fuck. 

Gabriel heard a voice nearby that he didn’t recognize. “Breathing rate increased. Subject is awake.”

“Excellent.” _ That _voice he recognized: Akande. 

Akande entered the room, and somebody followed. Gabriel recognized Moira instantly. That was never good.

“Hello, Reyes,” Akande said, that familiar (and annoying) smug tone in his voice. The kind he had when he knew he had the upper hand. 

“What the fuck do you want?” Gabriel growled. At least he could still move his mouth.

Akande shook his head. “You are so vulgar, Reyes.” Ugh, there was nothing he wanted more than to punch this guy right in his annoying mouth. “Perhaps if you were more polite towards me, you would not be where you are now.”

Gabriel snorted. “If you want to torture me, just do it. It would be much better than hearing you talk.”

Akande chuckled. “Ah, but we tried that, and it did not work, did it? No, we have something else in mind.” He sighed. “I warned you that we could do things to your body that you would not like, did I not? Yet you still did not listen. A pity.” Gabriel wished Akande could see the way he was rolling his eyes behind the mask. This guy just loved to hear himself talk, didn’t he?

“Bring it on. I’ve been through worse,” Gabriel said. They could do what they wanted to his body. He’d been in so much pain throughout his life that he’d gotten used to it.

“Hm.” Akande nodded towards Moira. “Since you are so insistent on disobeying based on Morrison, we have decided to put it back into your hands, and allow you to kill him yourself.”

“What makes you think I’ll do that?” There was no point in trying to give off the illusion that he had any intention of killing Jack now.

“Simple. It will not be your choice.” After he said that, Moira injected what looked like a small chip deep into his right arm. A strange buzzing sensation went throughout his entire body. The pain was similar to that of a lightning strike. All he could do was try not to scream. “What do you have to say about that, Reyes?”

Gabriel tried to talk, but his mouth wouldn’t move.

“Our access to your body’s condition has given us a certain level of control over it. I only chose to do this as a last resort, but you have forced my hand.” He undid the straps on the table. Although Gabriel didn’t want to move, his body got up from the table on its own. He had no control.

Gabriel tried to let out a ‘what the fuck did you do, you asshole’, but nothing came out. 

“With this method, we can control your entire body,” Akande said, as Moira looked at him with a devilish smirk. “Morrison has much faith in you, does he not? That will make it very easy for your body to kill him.” No. Fuck. Please no. “Let us test this. Will you help me kill him?”

Even though Gabriel tried to say no, his mouth moved on its own, saying, “Of course, sir.” 

What was wrong with this sick fuck? He tried to struggle as much as he could, but nothing moved. In a desperate attempt to disable his body, he tried to close his eyes, but they wouldn’t move, either. 

“With this method, not only will Morrison die, but you will watch the entire time.” Akande nodded. “If all goes according to plan, both of your spirits will be broken. Of course, how you feel does not matter much, since we can keep control of you as long as we like.” He chuckled. Gabriel tried to scream, swing at him, anything, but instead, his body gave Akande a salute. 

As his eyes looked over to the side, Gabriel noticed his shotguns were on the table. Akande gestured towards them, and his hands picked them up. “Now, let us move to Morrison’s room, yes?” Akande said, with a smirk.

“I can’t wait,” his body said. He realized that if they kept this character up, people wouldn’t even know he was under someone else’s control. It acted just like he had before, and said similar things. This was really fucking dire. 

As his body walked out of the room, Gabriel tried to tell his hands to point the gun at himself. Fuck it, he would die before he would ever let this happen. But his hands didn’t go towards him. Instead, they pointed the guns forward. “It’s time to kill,” his body growled.

Gabriel tried absolutely every way to eliminate himself. Holding his breath didn’t work. Couldn’t move his fingers to dig his claws into his hands. Couldn’t bang his head against the wall. Nothing. And worst of all, he was aware of every move. Completely conscious of the way his body followed Akande towards what he assumed was Jack’s room. Able to see, hear, and feel everything that his body was experiencing. 

Akande looked at the attendants at the door of where they held prisoners. The attendants glared at him. “Relax. Reyes has changed his mind, and is with us again.” _ Fuck you. Fuck you so hard. _The attendants stepped out of their way. He told his body over and over to shoot Akande, but nothing happened. “After you,” he said, smirking at Gabriel’s body. His head nodded, and opened the door.

Suddenly, he wished he had just died in Zurich.

\--

_ Two hours earlier _

Lena woke up from a great night’s sleep. The beds here were comfortable, and it was nice to sleep in a house instead of a base. Stretching, she walked into the kitchen, and saw that nobody was there. That was odd. From what she knew about Jack, he was always up by sunrise. 

She ran to his room and had already opened the door when she realized it would probably be better not to pester him and Reyes before they woke up (or worse, the two of them may be getting ‘intimate’). It ended up not mattering, though, because neither of them were there. Huh?

She spent the next few minutes looking all around the house for them. The living room, no. The kitchen, no. The lawn, no. Where else could they be? “Jack? Reyes?” She shouted, to no response. 

Lena walked outside to search further, where she found Genji doing his morning meditation. She raced towards him. “Genji!” She yelled. He turned his head towards her, grumbling a bit. She realized she had definitely interrupted his peaceful atmosphere. Whoops. “I can’t find Jack or Reyes. Do you know where they are?”

“Hm,” Genji started. “No. Did you check all over the house?” She nodded. “I saw Reyes start to leave last night, but it is odd that he would take Morrison with him.”

Lena’s eyes widened. Had Reyes wanted to abandon them? Was he on the other side after all? “Leave? Why?”

“He said that he was afraid he would hurt us,” Genji said. At the very least, Genji sounded confident that Reyes was being honest about that, so she decided to believe him, too. Suspecting your friends constantly was a terrible way to live your life.

She looked around outside, scanning the entire area, but still saw no trace of either of them. “Do ya think they went to do the mission on their own?”

Genji hummed. “That is always a possibility.” Suddenly, he got up. “Let’s investigate their room, yes?” She nodded.

When the two of them reached the room Jack and Reyes had been sleeping in, it looked almost exactly the same as it had before she had woken up. She looked around for possible clues, but there was nothing out of the ordinary, except for one thing…

“Have you seen Reyes’ shotguns?” Lena asked Genji. He shook his head. “Could’ve sworn they were by the bed. They’re both paranoid chaps, I saw both of their guns next to the bed when we came in last night.” She looked at the bedside. “Jack’s gun is right here, though.” She tried to pick it up, but almost immediately dropped it. Dear God, that thing was heavy. How did he carry it around?

Genji closed the door to the closet. “Yes, and his mask appears to be missing, as well.”

Something wasn’t right about this, though. “Weird thing is, Jack’s gun hasn’t moved at all. His supplies haven’t either,” she said, pointing to the _ 76 _duffel bag. “Like he never had the chance to touch it. You know what to make of this?” The ugly possibility that Reyes had kidnapped Jack popped into her mind, but she rejected it instantly.

Genji put two fingers on his chin. “I am not sure. What I do know is that if Reyes has his weapons, there is one place we will likely find answers.”

She knew he meant the Talon base. “You sure we should go without them?”

He sighed. “If we do not, I fear they will both be dead before we can accomplish any mission at all.” That possibility sent a chill down her spine. “Time is of the essence. We must leave immediately. Are you prepared?” 

She nodded. “Let’s go be heroes.” 

It took them a relatively short amount of time to reach the base, even without guidance from Reyes. The building was rather conspicuous; they really didn’t seem afraid of being caught at all. Too powerful to take down, she supposed. Unless she and her friends had something to say about it. She lowered her goggles, and started to walk towards the building, until Genji stopped her.

“Wait. Stealth from the front door will be impossible for you,” he said, a remark she tried not to be insulted by. 

“Then what should we do? We can’t just stay here.”

“I have an idea. But you may not like it.” That was not a good sign.

A few moments later, they were on the right side of the outside of the building. The sides of the building were relatively barren, with only a few window panes on the side. The windows were too high up to jump into, so she wasn’t sure how this would help at all.

“Do you have a copy of the building map from Reyes?” Genji asked.

She searched her holo pad for a moment, opening a document she had saved. Bingo. “Yep!”

“What floor is the control room on?” 

She looked at the map, clicking the button on the side that said ‘Controls’; when she clicked the button, the map zoomed in on a room on the third floor. “Third floor. Right in the center.” She still didn’t know how they were supposed to get there without going inside, though.

That was, until Genji jumped up and started to clamber on the wall. Oh. He reached his hand downwards. She wasn’t entirely sure if he would be able to pull both of them up, but decided to have faith in him; his ninja abilities were cool. They could do all sorts of things, right? So, she grabbed his hand, and he pulled her upwards.

“Can you climb with only one hand?” She asked.

He chuckled. “No. That is the part you may not like.” Without any further warning, he pulled backwards, and then she was in the air. He had thrown her straight up. Although she panicked for a moment, wondering if she would just fall entirely off the building and have to waste her recall, she managed to grab a windowsill and pull herself upwards. 

“Could’ve warned me!” She shouted, as he climbed up to reach her height. 

The two repeated the process until they reached the third window up. She held onto the windowsill, trying not to look down. The ground felt like it was miles away now, and her breathing picked up a bit. She had never been particularly afraid of heights, but the ledge she held was tiny, and one wrong move could send her down for sure. Even with her recall, the paranoia was still there. Instincts, she supposed.

Genji put his hands on the window. “We should no longer talk aloud. Instead, send messages from your holo pad directly to my system.” He pressed a button on the pad, and she heard a small ‘beep’ coming from his armor. She nodded. He gently opened the very bottom of the window, allowing himself to slip inside, and she followed; it was a good thing both of them were relatively small. Getting Reyes or Jack through that space would’ve been a nightmare.

Staying as low as she could, Lena hugged the wall, looking towards Genji for guidance. He was the one who was good at stealth.

_ Lena: What do we do? _

She saw Genji look around the room. A small pocket opened in the arm of his suit, with a keyboard underneath; he started typing on it.

_ Genji: Getting to the center of the building will be difficult. _ He looked upward. _ But I have another idea you may not like. _

_ Lena: Not again… _

Before she had time to object aloud, Genji grabbed her and started climbing the wall; he reached the ceiling and started typing again, using his legs to remain on the wall.

_ Genji: Put your hands and legs up in a crawling position. _

She obeyed him, still a bit scared that he’d lose his grip. He jumped to the ceiling, putting her above him and wrapping his arms around her back; as she reached the top, he stayed underneath her and held onto the ceiling, keeping both of them in the air. This was a bit terrifying, but she kept her hands up, both of them making themselves as small as possible.

Slowly, Genji started to move forward, holding onto her the whole time; her fear began to evaporate. Trust your friends. That was all she could do. Genji opened the door slightly, and both of them slid through a crack, remaining on the ceiling.

As they entered the hallway, she looked beneath them and saw numerous people. Not as much luck as the last building. Luckily, the ceiling of the building was quite high, and Genji was incredibly quiet, so none of the agents reacted to their presence. Thank God. She held her breath as much as she could, not wanting to make even the smallest amount of noise.

Looking down with as much focus as she could muster, she couldn’t see any sign of Jack and Reyes. With no other option, they clambered down the hallway slowly. Although Lena hoped that they would reach a place with no agents, they had no such luck, so the tension she felt remained. 

They had almost reached the end of the hallway when Lena saw someone in a white robe open a door, then heard a voice that she instantly recognized: Reyes. Genji seemed to hear it as well, as he instantly started moving in that direction. Before the person closed the door, the two of them rushed inside. 

What she saw was...shocking, to say the least.

Jack was on the ground in a cage, with Reyes pointing his guns at Jack. 

No. Please no. She almost gasped, then covered her mouth to prevent any sound from coming out.

_ Lena: We need to get down there _

Genji nodded at her, and went just behind and above the cage; he descended the wall until they were both on the ground in a space between the cage and the wall, mostly out of sight to anyone that wouldn’t be specifically looking for them.

Doomfist stood next to them, a smug smirk on his face. Lena almost got up to run and fight, but Genji put his arm in front of her.

_ Genji: We cannot take them both at once. We must have stealth. Perhaps I can attack from above and stall. _

“Always so trusting of me, Boy Scout,” Reyes growled. “That’s the last mistake you’ll make.” All of her worst fears, the ones she had tried to block out as much as she could, were coming true. She should’ve seen this coming. It was her fault for involving him at all.

Jack looked...not angry, but resigned. He put his head on the ground. “If I die, I want you to do it.” 

Forget stealth. Lena was about to jump in, but she paused when she saw Reyes began to shake.

“Jack…” He managed to choke out, voice sounding incredibly strained. “Run…” She had never heard Reyes sound more terrified.

“What are you doing?” Doomfist said. “Kill him.”

A bit of hope seemed to hit Jack’s features, as he picked his head up off the ground. “Gabe, whatever they did to you, fight it! I know you can!”

Reyes’ finger moved over the trigger, and Lena prepared for the worst; however, the moment shifted in a way she certainly did not see coming. Slowly, as if trying to push something incredibly heavy, Reyes turned the gun in his left hand until he was pointing it at his own right arm, the one that was pointing the gun at Jack. “Not...Jack…”

Everyone else in the room could do nothing but stare in shock as Reyes fired into his arm at close range, instantly tearing through his cloak and leaving a gaping hole, with blood splattering everywhere. The other gun fell to the ground, and Reyes along with it. 

Doomfist nodded toward one of the agents in the room, and she started to walk towards the door.

Oh no you don’t. This was when Lena knew she had to act. In a split second, she looked at Genji, who nodded at her; she hoped he understood what she wanted him to do. 

Choosing to have faith in him, she dashed at the agent trying to leave the room and tackled her to the ground, punching her in the stomach and holding her down. With the others in the room distracted, Jack slammed against the door of the cage, knocking it down. 

“Genji!” Lena shouted. “Get the AI!” He nodded, and jumped out the door, dashing down the hallway at lightning speed. While she was doing that, Jack ran to Reyes’ side. 

“Gabe, are you OK?!” He yelled, shaking him, as if that would somehow make a difference.

She heard Reyes take a deep breath. “You fucking idiot...Why didn’t you run, you could’ve died…” He coughed, which sent more blood coming out of the wound.

“‘Cause I believe in you, Gabe.” 

Did these two always have to have their emotional moments at the _ worst _ times? “This is sweet and all, but he’s getting away!” She gestured towards Doomfist, who was beginning to leave the room.

She heard Jack growl, then slam Doomfist against the wall by the neck. “Give me one fucking reason not to crush your fucking throat right now!” He shouted. 

Doomfist chuckled. “Reyes will turn on you as well, you know. He did once, and he will again when it is convenient for him.”

Although Lena wondered, even just for a second, if he might have a point, Jack clearly had no such reservations; he immediately punched Doomfist in the face. “That’s for endangering my friends!” He punched him again. “That’s for fucking with my life’s work! And this--” He pulled his fist backwards -- “Is for hurting Gabriel!” He smashed his fist into Doomfist’s face, with enough force to send him flying into the door. Jack stood still for a moment, trying to catch his breath.

_ Meanwhile _

Genji dashed through the hallway, hoping that the others could handle the situation with Doomfist without him. They certainly seemed capable of passing his expectations.

He didn’t know what to think of these events. By all appearances, Reyes had betrayed them. But then, he had suddenly gone to great lengths to stop it...had he simply changed his mind, and was trying to save face? Had this all been a ruse? Was this still part of a backstabbing plan? Genji couldn’t make any sense of it. He supposed that was not what he should be thinking of right now, anyway.

One of the Talon agents pointed upwards, directly at him. _ Kuso _. 

He heard shouting underneath him, then several of them started chasing him. They attempted to jump and get him, to no avail. They quickly gave up on catching him, and began shooting at him instead. That could be a problem. He dodged as well as he could, but the crowd of agents attacking him grew larger, and he could not avoid dozens of attacks at once. There was no way he’d be able to hold onto the ceiling and deflect at the same time, but he decided deflecting was still a better option. So, he dropped to the ground, pulled out his blade, and began deflecting the bullets while walking backwards, towards the center of the building.

He had wanted to kill as few people as possible, but they didn’t leave him much of a choice. The agents that were hit with the deflected bullets quickly fell backwards. Easy. 

He approached a room, and part of his system started beeping. This was the control room. It looked more like a supply closet, really. Inconspicuous. How clever.

Opening the door would be too risky with people shooting at him, so he spun his blade around in one quick motion, slicing through the door. The top half of it came off and fell to the ground, and Genji jumped backwards into the room.

He realized at that moment that he did not have time to analyze where the AI was. It would take a moment for the Talon agents to climb over the door, but he did not have nearly enough time to figure out among this absolutely massive number of buttons and levers. So, he decided to go the unsophisticated route: he took his blade and chopped through the entire panel, then started slicing every other panel in the room. Evidently, that room controlled more than just the AI, because the lights suddenly went off after he cut the fourth panel.

When he chopped up the last panel and cord in the room, there was a bright flash of light. His instincts told him to leave the room immediately. After he jumped back out of the door, an explosion erupted from the room, the force of which sent both him and the Talon agents flying backwards. Pieces of machinery fell around him. When he looked back in that direction, he saw another light, of an orange-yellow color: fire. 

The fire grew quickly as sparks flew from the room; as parts of the wall ignited (they probably should have used less flammable materials), Genji knew he and his friends had to get out of there. While he ran away from the area, leaving panicked Talon agents behind him, he began typing a message on his arm.

_ On the other side of the base... _

Out of nowhere, all of the lights in the room turned off, and the other technological equipment also shut off. Immediately afterwards, Lena heard an explosion, powerful enough to shake the room they were in. Oh God, was Genji alright? While she worried, Lena heard a beep from her holo pad. The Talon agent underneath her was obviously in shock by the events happening around them, so Lena didn’t even worry about subduing her. She opened the message. From Genji. That was a relief.

_ Genji: There is a fire. Leave as soon as possible. _

“We have to get out of here!” Lena yelled at Jack and Reyes. She looked towards Doomfist, who was unconscious. “Guess we just leave him here?”

“I’m sure as hell not gonna help him,” Jack said. “He can fucking burn for all I care.” Jack went to Reyes’ side, leaning down. “Can you get out, Gabe?”

“Yeah yeah, I’m fine,” Gabriel grumbled. “Uh. Thanks. Both of you. For saving my ass. I don’t get why you didn’t just kill me.”

The answer seemed obvious to her. “Because you’re our friend, Reyes. Whether you like it or not.” She smiled at him. 

She couldn’t see his expression behind the mask, but she was sure he was smiling, too. “Thanks, kid.” As he started to get up from the ground, he winced when his right arm moved. “Ow. At least that chip’s definitely fucking gone.” She wasn’t sure what he was referring to, but it was probably a good thing. Hopefully.

The fire alarms started going off, and all of the agents in the area ran into the hallway.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Jack said. Lena nodded, and Reyes turned to smoke. The three ran (well, Reyes...floated, she supposed) through the hallways, seeing many people around them panicking and trying to salvage whatever they could from the building. Although she wondered how many casualties this would result in, she supposed she would have to feel guilty about that later. Right now, she needed to save herself and her friends.

Lena had no idea where in the world she was going, though. The hallways all looked the same. She decided to just follow Reyes and hope that he really was on their side after all; it was a bit hard to keep track of him in the pandemonium, though. And if regular smoke started to come through, they were definitely in trouble.

As they turned a corner and reached the stairwell, she and Jack began dashing down it. God, this was terrifying. Seeing all of these people in a panic and hearing shouting coming from every direction...it made her feel guilty that she was the one behind it. Shaking off that feeling, she ran until they reached the door, and all three of them ran out just as smoke started to enter the room. Reyes reformed once they got outside, then instantly collapsed; Jack ran towards him, sitting at his side. Judging by the other things Reyes had endured, he would probably be fine, but it was still worrying all the same. She felt a bit concerned that Reyes would attack Jack now, but knew that all she could do was try to have hope in him. Trust your friends, she repeated to herself. And Reyes was her friend.

Looking back at the building, she saw windows beginning to break and smoke coming out of them. Wait. Wasn’t this what happened in the other timeline, too?

...How ironic.

She looked out into the crowd. Oh God, where was Genji? She went to search for him, desperately trying to look through the massive crowd of people. Many people from outside of the base were starting to congregate there, watching the building burn. She saw fire trucks get to the building as well, followed by what appeared to be a mass of reporters. Hopefully her practice at talking to the media would come in handy this time, because she had a feeling she wasn’t going to get out of this without being asked some questions.

Relief crashed over her when she saw a figure clamber down to the ground from the outside of the building. Genji was fine. When he reached the three of them, he and Lena hugged, both of them laughing. “We made it, buddy!”

Of course, they would still have to deal with the fallout from this. But the four of them would live another day...and all of humanity would, as well.

...For now.


	14. No Man Left Behind

Jack didn’t have much time to celebrate with his friends; immediately after the building burned, Lena, Jack, and Genji were whisked away by reporters to be thoroughly (harassed) questioned. Fucking vultures. Luckily, Gabriel managed to sneak away. Unfortunately, Jack didn’t have his mask on when he was kidnapped, so it was very clear who he was. He had to explain several times that yes, he was the real Jack Morrison, no, he was not dead, no, he wasn’t interested in the new Overwatch, and a whole host of obnoxious prodding. He was very out of practice on speaking to reporters, but he thought he mostly managed by just saying as little as possible. Genji used a similar technique.

Lena, on the other hand, had learned every trick in the book for dealing with them. A real chip off the old block. It gave him a sense of pride. 

Of course, they would all have to deal with their court dates. Arson was still illegal. Even if they managed to convince the courts that they didn’t do it (he had certainly lied to officials before), they would still need a trial to prove their (apparent) innocence. 

Now, he had something he needed to do. He found his way back to the safe house they had been staying in as quickly as he could. When he reached the living room, Gabriel was sitting there, mask off. 

He turned to face Jack, giving him a grin. “Thanks for not making me deal with those snakes.” 

Jack scoffed. “Well, you were never good at handling reporters, and I’m sure you’d be even worse now.” Both of them laughed. Jack came over and sat on the couch next to Gabriel. “Now, tell me...what the hell happened?” Gabriel hesitated. “Gabe, we have to be honest with each other from now on,” he pleaded, “Or else what happened last time will just happen again.”

Slowly, Gabriel nodded. “When did you get so smart?” He chuckled nervously. “They did something really awful. They had total control of my body.” He sighed. “I know it’s hard to believe me, after everything, but I promise I didn’t have a choice in attacking you. I never want to do that again.” 

Jack looked up at Gabriel, touching the side of his face, gently pushing it so their eyes met. “I believe you.” True, this made it a bit more frightening to trust Gabriel, but he refused to let Talon break them apart again. He was going to put all of his trust in Gabriel this time, and if he got backstabbed for it, then so be it.

“Thanks,” Gabriel said, giving him a rare genuine smile. “So, are we still a thing?” Gabriel asked, with a pleading look.

Jack kissed his temple. “Of course. Not getting rid of me that easy.” 

Gabriel chuckled. “Come on, I know you can do better than that.” Suddenly, he grabbed the sides of Jack’s head and pulled him in for a kiss. Jack pushed their bodies as close together as possible; all of this had just reminded him that he could lose Gabriel again at any moment, and damn it, he was going to enjoy every second of time they had together from now on. 

“Fuck, Jack, baby I was so scared…” Gabriel mumbled as their kiss continued. As the two of them pulled away, Gabriel continued. “I’ll never let you go again. Promise.” 

Jack tried to catch his breath, with his arms still wrapped around Gabriel’s back.. “Me neither. No matter what happens.” 

Gabriel sighed, pulling away a bit. “I’m just scared. Jack, there’s so much ugly inside me, and I’m so scared I’m going to hurt you again.” 

Jack brushed his hand against Gabriel’s cheek, smiling at him. “Let’s fix it, then. Together.” Continuing to stroke his cheek, Jack said, “You’ve been hurt so bad. But you’re my Gabe. Not giving up on you.” 

Gabriel nuzzled into Jack’s hand. He sighed. “That part of me that killed all those people is still there, Jack.”

Jack’s smile didn’t fade. “Long as I’m still alive, I’ll stay with you. No matter what shit you pull.”

Gabriel shook his head. “I don’t get you.” 

“You don’t have to.” Jack chuckled. He picked up his holo pad. “Hey, let’s see if we’re on the news.” 

“Trust me, I’ve been on the news a lot recently,” Gabriel said, smirking at him.

Jack rolled his eyes. “For something other than terrorism.” 

Jack tuned to a news station. They had missed most of the program while they were busy with their emotional moment, but they managed to catch the end.

_ “The leader of Talon, known only as Doomfist, was seen escaping the building.” _Aw, fuck. He was like a fucking cockroach. 

Gabriel pointed at the corner of the screen, where Jack stood, clearly trying to avoid everyone. “Nice resting bitch face,” Gabriel said, snickering. 

_ “Although an investigation by the Italian police was scheduled to begin tomorrow, due to the nature of the organization involved, the UN has decided to take the case into their own hands.” _ Wait. What? _ “In an unprecedented move, the formerly disbanded organization known as Overwatch has been put in charge of the investigation and will work with the UN on charges towards those involved.” _Jack’s eyes widened as soon as he heard the word ‘Overwatch’. Both he and Gabriel looked at each other. Was that better or worse for them?

He saw Lena show up on the screen. A sense of pride filled him. It was like watching his daughter all grown up. “We at Overwatch are going to expose the evil of this organization. Its reign of terror is over. I promise that to all of you.” Lena gave a nod, a big smile on her face. The ‘look like a hero to the media’ face and dialogue.

Gabriel snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure.” 

“Thanks for the enthusiasm,” Jack deadpanned. 

Gabriel grinned at him. “Anytime.” 

Their typical banter was interrupted by Jack getting a call. “Hello?”

“Jack?” He heard a familiar voice on the other line, one he hadn’t heard in a long time. “It’s Winston.” He sounded nervous. “The hearing about you, Reyes, and Tracer is tomorrow at the base. At 9:00AM.” He lowered his voice. “Please make sure Reyes actually shows up.”

Jack rolled his eyes at Winston’s lack of faith. Those two never trusted each other, did they? “Will do. See you then.” 

After he hung up, he heard Gabriel snicker behind him. “I heard that. I wasn’t planning on skipping out, but now that you mention it…”

“You do that and I’ll execute you myself.” 

Both of them laughed. As nervous as he was to see if he’d have to be on the run again (he sure as hell had no intention of going to prison, no matter the ruling), at least the two of them were together. Them against the world.

As always.

\--

Today was, as Gabriel referred to it, “Judgment Day”. Jack, Genji, Lena, and Gabriel stood in front of a table with Winston and several officials he didn’t recognize in front of them. It was surreal for him to _ not _know who these officials were after being buried in them for decades. Good fucking riddance. Jack bit his lip, hoping for the best. At least Overwatch was deciding it and not the UN vultures. Gabriel had insisted on wearing his mask, even though Jack felt that it would just make it harder for them to see that he was still a real person under there.

According to Lena, she and Genji weren’t being put on trial at all. The investigative team had quickly decided that due to Talon’s activities and ‘special circumstances’, they had no need to be charged with anything. Ah, Jack remembered the old days of getting away with just about everything. Diplomatic power.

“I did my best to argue for both of you, so have faith, loves,” Lena said. She looked exhausted; Jack knew she had spent most of the night coming up with their defense and trying to advocate for them in the discussion. It warmed his heart to know how much she cared about both of them. What a sweet girl.

Winston cleared his throat. “Alright, everyone.” The room went silent. He picked up a stack of papers, then started reading off of them. “We’ve come here today to announce the verdict on Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes, also known as Soldier: 76 and Reaper.” 

Jack’s entire body tensed. Unexpectedly, he felt Gabriel put his hand over Jack’s. Jack squeezed it as tightly as he could.

Winston continued, flipping to the next sheet of paper. “Due to the circumstances of Talon activities, his past diplomatic actions, and special testimony from the Overwatch agent Tracer, we’ve decided to exonerate Jack Morrison of all charges, including those incurred during his years as a vigilante.”

“Yes!” Lena cheered. She hugged Jack, laughing happily. “Jack, we did it!” He hugged her, and couldn’t keep a big smile off his face. 

“This celebration is really sweet, but...” Winston started, hesitating, “We’ve also ruled that, due to his extensive violent past, Reyes may remain a danger to society.” Jack’s stomach dropped. Oh no. “We’ll have to keep him locked up until we’re certain it’s safe.”

“What?!” Jack, Gabriel, and Lena shouted at the same time. Winston flinched. 

Jack stood up in his chair. Did they really think Gabriel was _ still _a traitor? “Why don’t you trust him? He put himself on the line for me over and over, and helped take down the organization that was trying to destroy you! If you wanna get him, you have to get through me--”

“No. He’s right,” Gabriel said, stopping Jack. Jack gaped at him. “I get why you don’t trust me. I’ll go without a fight.”

“Gabe, we can’t let them treat you like some sort of prisoner!” Jack argued, trying not to shout.

“I promise he’s trustworthy, Winston! Please!” Lena pleaded, looking like she was about to cry.

Winston spoke a bit more quietly, “I’m sorry. If the UN had their way, he would’ve been executed. This was the best I could do.” To be fair to Winston, he did look genuinely guilty.

“Guys, don’t worry about it,” Gabriel said. “I _ should _be a prisoner. Maybe I can prove myself after a while.”

After taking a moment to regain his confidence (did he really think they were going to hurt him?), Winston’s voice regained its former volume. “We’ll keep you somewhere secure in the Gibraltar base. I promise we’ll treat you humanely. We won’t hurt you.” As if that made it so much better. “Excuse me, I need to talk to the others about the logistics.” He started talking in a more hushed tone to the other officials at the table.

Jack wanted to stop him. How could he do this to someone that had risked every part of himself for them? But he knew that, in the end, it was Gabriel’s decision. So, he stood without moving, still in shock. To his surprise, Gabriel squeezed his shoulder. Jack looked back at him, trying not to cry.

After a few moments, Winston started coming towards them. Nervousness built in Jack’s chest for what he would say. Winston cleared his throat. “The others agreed with our verdict. You’re safe from execution.” Well, small blessings, he supposed. “I have a cell with a field that should stop the wraith form, and we decided to put you in it.” He stood a good distance away from both Jack and Gabriel, as if one of them would swing at him. 

“So you’re just going to put him in a cage like a dog?!” Jack closed the distance between the two. He wouldn’t let Winston disconnect himself from this situation. 

Winston scratched the back of his head. “I know you care about him, but this is for everyone’s safety. Who knows what he could do after this?” His tone turned a bit more sympathetic. “I’m sorry, Jack. I know he’s your friend. But we can’t trust him. Not yet, at least.”

Jack was seeing red at this point, and Winston’s sympathy was just pissing him off more. “I’ll fight all of you if I have to. You’re not getting him.”

Gabriel tapped Jack on the shoulder. “Jack, leave it. I’ll go.” He took his mask off and gave Jack a real smile. Two in two days. That must be a record. “You can come visit, you know.”

“It won’t be the same. I won’t be able to touch you.” Or to kiss him. Or hug. Make love. Any of it.

Gabriel looked straight into Jack’s eyes, a wistful look on his face. “We gotta take one for the team, Jack.” He chuckled. “Before I go…” Gabriel grabbed Jack’s face and kissed him, with an intensity he hadn’t felt since their moment in the cargo hold. For just a moment, Jack decided to ignore the world around him. All of the tragic circumstances weren’t important right now. All that mattered was the man in front of him. Jack melted into the kiss, holding Gabriel tight. After a few moments, the kiss ended, with the two of them knowing they didn’t have much time.

“I love you,” Jack blurted out.

Gabriel gave him another smile. God, say what you want about Gabriel’s mouth, his smile was absolutely beautiful. At least, it was to Jack. He rested his forehead against Jack’s and whispered in his ear, “I love you too.” He knew getting Gabriel to say that was like pulling teeth. That just made this feel even more tragic.

Jack noticed at that moment that Lena hadn’t said anything for a few moments. She seemed to be deep in thought. Coming up with some kind of idea? Some convoluted scheme. Just like when they came here in the first place. 

As the people who had been at the table started to leave, Gabriel grabbed Jack’s hand. Reluctantly, Jack walked with him.

Normally, holding Gabriel’s hand would be all he needed to feel some comfort. But it just reminded him of how he’d be without it soon.

\--

To Jack’s dismay, the cell didn’t look comfortable at all. It was nearly a cage. When he had said that, it was supposed to be an exaggeration. There was a bed and a toilet, but other than that, the only thing there was the blue-tinted field surrounding the bars. Neither he nor Gabriel said anything as they walked into the room, holding hands in silence. 

When Winston opened the cell, Gabriel looked at Jack, smiling at him. At least Jack could see that sweet smile without the mask. God dammit, he said he wasn’t going to cry, but once the tears started, they wouldn’t stop. He buried his face in Gabriel’s shoulder and sobbed. _ He _shouldn’t be the one crying, it was Gabriel who was about to suffer even though he had been trying to help. But losing the ability to touch Gabriel right after they had finally come back to each other was a damn tragedy. 

Eventually, he had to let go. Gabriel walked into the cell, which closed behind him. Probably able to read the room, Winston left the two of them alone; unfortunately, he had not given Jack authorization to open the door, obviously suspecting that Jack would try to spring him out. Damn. 

Almost instantly after Winston left, Jack started looking around the room for ways he could get Gabriel out. The cell was tightly locked, and the barrier kept Jack from entering as well, meaning trying to break it with brute strength was out. 

“Jack, I can tell what you’re doing,” Gabriel said, startling him. “You shouldn’t put yourself at risk to get me out. They’re your friends, aren’t they?”

Jack shook his head. “If they were my friends, they wouldn’t have locked you up.” Gabriel rolled his eyes. He felt like the others had backstabbed both of them by doing this. That wasn’t how real friends operated. He sighed. “I’m so sorry. It’s my fault you’re locked down here. Shouldn’t have gotten you involved in my bullshit.”

“I can make my own choices, Jack,” Gabriel said. “And I chose to help you. Even if I have to sit in a fucking cage for it.” After a brief pause, he snickered. “This is a much shittier retirement than I expected.” 

Despite everything, Jack managed to laugh at that. 

Day turned to night, and Jack had spent the whole time with Gabriel. They talked about inconsequential things. Every few hours, one of the other agents would come to check on them, presumably making sure Gabriel didn’t escape. So this was how they treated him. Like some sort of monster. Apparently, the room was even in bad shape, because he kept hearing a slight noise coming from the ceiling. Damn creaky thing. They didn’t even have the decency to give him a room that wasn’t in disrepair?

Late that night, he saw a familiar shape walk down the stairs. Lena.

“Heya!” She said, still perky as ever. 

“What are you so happy about?” Jack muttered. She wasn’t on their side, was she?

She started walking towards the cell. Once she got there, she gave him the most devilish grin he had ever seen coming from her. “‘Cause I’m happy I got in here without them seeing me.” Huh? Lena walked towards the control panel. What was she doing? “Y’know, it’d be really sad if I was an airhead and accidentally disabled the barrier.” 

Jack was starting to catch on. “Wait, really?”

He heard Gabriel chuckle. “Knew you’d come through for me, kid.” 

Lena put her hand on the sensor, and the barrier disintegrated. “You’ll get caught if you just use your smoke thing to get out--” She still didn’t seem to know the name ‘wraith’ -- “But I have a plan for that, too.” Suddenly, a hole appeared in the ceiling, and a circular part of it fell down. Just big enough to fit the two of them. So that was the noise from before. He had just thought that they were cheap.

He saw Genji stick his head out of the hole. “Greetings.” Jack nearly teared up. His team was really coming through for them. 

“You guys better get out of here before they find out,” Lena said. She smiled at both of them. “I really hope I can see you guys again.”

Jack returned her smile. “You will. We’ll find a way. Trust us.”

“Yeah, I can’t leave my little pest behind that easily.” Gabriel snickered, and Lena laughed along with him.

Jack would miss her. At this point, Lena was basically family. Jack was definitely going to visit her somehow. 

“Disabled the security cameras for a few minutes, but Athena will put them back on soon, so you gotta hurry.” She opened the cell, allowing Jack to step inside. 

Genji reached his arm down, and Gabriel grabbed it. After Genji finished pulling him up (Jack had no idea where he ended up, but he’d just have to trust Genji), he started to pull Jack up as well; although Jack thought he wouldn’t fit through the hole at first, Genji made it work. The three ended up on the first floor. Jack saw the door only a short distance away.

“Farewell for now, my friends.” Genji gave them a bow. Jack smiled at him. “No time for formalities. Run.” Jack and Gabriel nodded.

Turning away, Jack and Gabriel ran, managing to get out of the front door. 

“How do we get out of here?” Jack asked. _ Please tell me the strategist came up with a plan… _

“Got an idea.” Gabriel pointed to the right. McCree’s car. Jack grinned. “Hopefully he won’t miss it."

“Don’t even pretend you care about that,” Jack said, as the two started to run towards the car.

Gabriel snickered. “You know me so well.”

Thanks to super soldier strength, they were at the car in barely any time at all. Jack hadn’t heard any sirens, and robots weren’t coming towards them, so Lena and Genji must really be good at covering their tracks. Didn’t know she had it in her.

Neither of them said anything for a few moments. “Where are we going, anyway?” Jack asked.

“Retirement,” Gabriel said. That really wasn’t a helpful answer at all. “Got a house in the Cali countryside. On our way to my other helicopter, which has _ no _autopilot this time.” Well, that was a relief.

“Thought we didn’t agree on our location yet,” Jack said, realizing how whiny he sounded.

“Cry me a river, Boy Scout,” Gabriel said. 

The two drove away at an almost reasonable speed. He got to talk with Gabriel the whole way, sometimes about their future plans, but more often just joking around. Like the old days. About an hour later, he got a call on his comm link. Winston. He promptly rejected the call. He was absolutely not interested in negotiating. They had tried to take Gabriel from him. They could kiss his ass. Luckily, they were far away enough by now that the robots on base wouldn’t be able to reach them.

Eventually, they reached a building Jack didn’t recognize. Just outside of it, there was what he assumed was Gabriel’s helicopter. As they boarded it, Jack reflected what he was leaving behind. Did he regret it? There was the potential that he could’ve joined the new Overwatch, maybe made some friends there. He could’ve kept trying to change the world.

When he looked over at Gabriel, focusing intently on the controls of the plane, he immediately realized the answer was no. Gabriel would always be worth it.

After they got settled, Gabriel looked at Jack for a moment, then pulled him in for a kiss. Yeah, this feeling was definitely worth it.

Something occurred to him. “Do you know how to fly this thing?”

“Uh...I think so?”

This would be a bumpy ride.


	15. Home

Sombra sat down at her desk, activating a holo pad in front of her. Time to check on her favorite dumb old men. She had lost much of her surveillance equipment when Talon headquarters burned down, but she still had other stations. Just less technologically advanced ones. Ah well. It happens.

Of course, Akande was still trying to get Talon back to its former glory. But after the building burned, international interest fell upon them, and most members fled to avoid being put in jail or executed. With so much of their equipment lost and their membership down so much, their power had slipped considerably. And if they had no power, what was the point of associating with them? Sombra had left them as well; they were useless to her now. 

She saw Jack and Gabi sitting in the living room of their quaint farmhouse, looking more peaceful than they ever have before. Of course, this dream wasn’t perfect, but Jack didn’t have to know that. 

Thinking of that...she received a call from Gabi a few moments later, for their weekly update. Right on time.

“Hey, chica,” Gabi said. He sounded much better without the voice modulator. Being edgy wasn’t really that great, at least not to her. She thought he had just sounded ridiculous. “Any problems?”

She looked at her nails. “Some goons were coming to your door two days ago. They looked like trouble.” She snickered. “They got to meet some of my friends. Definitely won’t be bothering you again.” It was nice to still have friends in high places.

“Oh no, I hope they didn’t get hurt.” There was a pause, then both of them started laughing. “Seriously, you’re the best.” His voice lowered. “Don’t tell Jack, okay?”

She rolled her eyes. “I heard you the first hundred times. I won’t ruin your princess’ country fantasy.” As far as Jack knew, nobody had ever tried to bother them since they had gotten there. “How is the pretty boy, anyway?” She asked, as if she couldn’t watch them at all times. Still fun to see what he said.

“Great,” Gabi started; she heard the familiar enthusiasm in his voice every time he talked about Jack. “I think tending to the crops makes him really happy. Fucking bumpkin,” he said, laughing. The way he could insult Jack with such fondness in his voice was impressive. He and Sombra really were similar in a lot of ways. “And he’s excited that Lena is coming over today.”

“Ah, the _ taradita _is coming? Wish I were there.” For some reason she didn’t entirely understand (and she hated not understanding things), Tracer had stopped being hostile towards her, even when Sombra made fun of her. Tracer said that she knew there was good in Sombra, but refused to tell her why. It wasn’t like her to be cryptic. Definitely need to do research on that later.

Gabi hummed. “Anyway, thanks for everything. Try not to get into too much trouble.”

Sombra scoffed. “What are you, my dad?”

“Ugh, that sounds too much like something I’d say to Jack. We’re becoming the same person.” Ha. Fat chance. Gabi _ wished _he was as good at being annoying as she was. “See ya.” With that, Gabi hung up.

Even though their conversation was over, she kept the camera feed open for the moment. Watching the domestic life of these two was kind of gross (ew, old man love), but also ignited a very deeply buried sense of sentimentality and idealism in her. It was nice to see them have a peaceful ending even with every possible odd stacked against them. It made her feel like maybe it was possible for her, too.

Of course, she would _ never _ have a camera in the bedroom. Old man love was gross enough, she definitely didn’t need to see old man love _ making. _Although she had some close encounters while looking at the camera above the couch...ugh.

In theory, she wasn’t really getting anything out of this deal. But...Jack and Gabi had saved everyone, and Gabi had been very sure to keep the authorities away from her, just as she did for him. Checking surveillance cameras every once in a while and taking care of pests was the least she could do for her old friends. Maybe Tracer was right, and she did have some kindness buried in there. Tracer may be annoying, but she had a feeling that _pendeja_ wasn’t as dumb as Sombra might have initially believed. 

Besides that, what else did she have to do, really? When Talon declined, many of the organizations that were connected to it started to stray away from those illicit activities for fear of the same thing happening to them. Not that they were inherently better people, but they were much more afraid. With the new Overwatch also having their impact, the world was quite a bit more peaceful than it was a few years ago. So few conspiracies to follow nowadays. A bit boring, but maybe it was for the best. That’s what Baptiste always said, at least.

Of course, only people naive as Jack would believe this will last for too long. Just a temporary break, same as Overwatch’s golden days. The world keeps turning, and bad things will always keep coming back. Talon might be in disrepair right now, but something else would spring up, maybe something even worse. That was the kind of thing she and Gabi understood, but Jack never would. It gave them a sort of kinship. Still, she wished she could be like Jack sometimes; everything was so simple for him. To him, the evil was defeated, and everything was solved now. Much less to be anxious about. Or maybe he was just a dumbass.

As she watched the camera in the living room, she saw Gabi enter the room. It was nice to see him without the mask. His face didn’t look that bad, no matter what he said. He had said that since he almost never saw anyone nowadays other than Jack and a few others he trusted, he felt that there wasn’t any need to wear it anymore. She got the feeling that he had never wanted to wear it in the first place. 

After watching them for a few more moments, she realized that there wouldn’t be anything interesting going on with them for a while. She moved to her other screens. One last look showed Gabriel resting his head on Jack’s lap as they watched TV together.

Despite everything, this brought a grin to her face. She’d let them have their dumb old men dream. Really, she didn’t know why people didn’t just leave them alone. Let them live out the rest of their days together in their little bubble. It was the least the world could do.

\--

Jack heard the doorbell ring just before dinner was ready. Right on time. He moved to the door and opened it.

“Hey kiddo!” Jack said, giving Lena a hug. She returned the hug, a big smile on her face. This wasn’t the first time they’d seen each other, but it always felt like too long. He really was like a parent whose child had moved out of the house. Who knew he’d start off parenthood as an empty nester?

“‘Sup?” Gabriel said, not getting up from the couch. Lena walked towards him, and the two fist-bumped. 

After a few more formalities, the three sat down at the table for dinner. Gabriel had made it, obviously; he refused to ever let Jack cook for company, saying he didn’t want to ‘scar them for life’. 

“So, how’s Overwatch going?” Jack asked, almost instantly. Maybe he was still at least slightly invested in what happened to them. It had been his life’s work, after all.

“Yeah, you guys get eaten by those vultures yet?” Gabriel added.

Lena stared at him. “You mean the diplomats?”

Gabriel shook his head, taking a sip of some root beer. He had been trying to keep Jack clean, so they had a ‘no alcohol’ rule in the house. He fought it at first, but now that he wasn’t so miserable, he realized that being drunk all the time actually kind of sucked. So he let Gabriel have his way, and that was one argument that didn’t come up nowadays. “Same thing.” 

She laughed. “It’s going great, actually! I’m second in command now,” she said, positively glowing with pride. “Yeah, the UN can be a pain sometimes, but you just have to know how to butter them up. And tell them to sod off without saying it directly.” She winked.

“Gabe was never good at that,” Jack said. “Would always get in trouble for being too direct with them.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “I was just saying what everyone was thinking.” 

“See, you just need to find a middle ground,” Lena said. “Plus, I think some of them are afraid of Winston.” She laughed.

“The idea of getting punched by a gorilla is pretty scary, I’ll admit,” Gabriel agreed. 

“You would know,” Jack said, snickering. Gabriel’s past became a common inside joke among the two of them. Kind of a screwed up thing to make jokes about, all things considered, but they’d been through enough to have the right, he thought.

“Ha ha, very funny. I hope you know that if I really am evil, I’ll get you back for jokes like that.” Tch. Gabriel was full of hot air, and he knew it. At this point, he trusted Gabriel enough to be confident in him, and that he had genuinely come back to Jack. Even if nobody else would believe in him. 

Lena laughed. “We both know you’re not really scary, Reyes. You wouldn’t hurt us.”

“Which means we can make fun of you all we want,” Jack added. Gabriel grumbled something inaudible, crossing his arms. 

Conversation continued among the three of them until dinner was finished. They spent some time afterwards chatting in the living room, enjoying each others’ company. As they were getting comfortable on the couch, Jack heard the doorbell ring. Hm?

He saw Gabriel jerk his head towards the door suddenly. Strange. He walked towards the door and opened it, revealing Genji. He noticed the tension leave Gabriel’s shoulders. Must still be paranoid, even after all of this time.

“Hello,” Genji said, bowing. “Is this a bad time?”

Jack shook his head. “Nah. You’re always welcome here. Missed dinner, though.” He didn’t ask how Genji had even known they were having any kind of gathering. That boy was a mystery.

“Reyes’ treat, I assume?”

Jack huffed. “How do you know I didn’t make it?”

“Because we actually ate it,” Gabriel spoke up from inside. Jack glared at him. Genji laughed, to Jack’s displeasure. After that, though, he patted Jack on the shoulder. Sometimes he felt like Genji was more mature than either him or Gabriel, despite being 20 years younger than both of them. As Jack moved out of the way, Genji walked inside the house, nodding at Gabriel, who waved at him. 

“Genji!” Lena said, nearly shouting. She walked up and hugged him, smiling. “The gang’s all here.”

Genji chuckled. “Yes, I was in the neighborhood, and thought my presence may be appreciated.” He detected a hint of smugness in Genji’s tone, the same that he could hear when Gabriel said things like that. Maybe the two of them were more similar than he acknowledged. 

Eventually, Genji came to join them in the living room. Jack spotted a very brief fond smile on Gabriel’s face as Genji sat next to them. As the TV played, some corny Omnic romance drama came on. Jack snickered. This was a good opportunity. “Gabe loves this movie. It makes him cry.” Gabriel whipped his head towards Jack.

“I will _ kill _you.” He glared daggers at Jack, while Lena laughed in the background.

After giving Gabriel a few moments to pout, Jack kissed him on the forehead. “Love you.”

Gabriel didn’t budge. “Yeah, you’re OK too, I guess.” Despite that, a smile formed on his elongated mouth. Genji shook his head, and Jack could just feel the way he must be rolling his eyes under that mask.

“Aww! You two are so cute,” Lena said in a near squeal.

“Don’t worry, kid. You’ll grow up to be just like us someday,” Gabriel said with a cocky smirk.

Lena grimaced. “OK, maybe not _ that _cute.” The four laughed, and returned to watching the program, and neither Jack nor Gabriel would ever admit just how invested they were in it.

In the way he least expected, Jack had achieved what he’d wanted all along: he had a family. A man to call his own, a daughter he was proud of every day (even though they weren’t really related), and even Genji felt like some kind of son to him. He didn’t get to see Genji and Lena as often as he wanted, but that was how it was when your kids were grown up, wasn’t it? He put one arm around Lena and one around Gabriel; Lena smiled at him, while Gabriel gave him a smirk. “Can’t keep your hands off me, huh, Boy Scout?” Jack rolled his eyes. Gabriel was so good at ruining nice moments.

“Are you ever gonna stop calling me that?”

Gabriel looked up at him. “You got any other insulting nicknames for me to use?” Jack glared at him; Gabriel seemed satisfied to have gotten a reaction. He cuddled in closer to Jack’s side, resting his head on Jack’s shoulder. 

“Perhaps you should think of a rude nickname for him, Jack,” Genji suggested.

Jack grunted. “No, won’t stoop to his level.” He smirked at Gabriel, who traced a fake tear down his cheek. Jack rubbed the top of his head.

Yeah, they were a little dysfunctional. But that was the best part of his family, he thought.

Maybe he should’ve gotten himself killed years ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end! Thanks for reading, everyone!


End file.
